Weeks passed before I received another letter from Percy. The morning after I had read his first letters I had woken early and wrote back. It went like this:

Dear Percy,

I haven't thrown away your letters.

In fact, they seem to be the only constant in my life besides the endless death that lives in this hospital. Every day I seem to meet more and more soldiers in the war effort, and every single one of them are as lost in their minds as can hardly be imagined. I have received articles from other doctors noticing the same things as I have, and it is beginning to gain a name for itself. "Combat Stress". Will this war ever end? I knew when I came here it would be a place of enduring residence throughout the war, but it is becoming harder and harder to stand it. All I can hope is that some form of truce can be formed before the populations on both sides are decimated forever.

In your earlier letters, you asked me if I had any dreams for after the war. I have to admit that I do not. By coming to this position, I have left behind my family, including my father, who has most probably disowned me by now. It is my own fault, however. I refused to come home to help with his wife and their children. I stick to my opinion that I can be of better help here at the war front. I hope you do not think too lowly of me for abandoning them, but my aspirations as a doctor can not be refuted.

I hope all fares well on the seas. I don't imagine that being on a ship for so long can be all that enjoyable. After all, you are cut off from the rest of the world.

My friends are all in good health. I hope your companions are as well.

Yours truly,

Annabeth Chase

P.S. In the event of this war ending, I would most certainly like to see you again.

After I had sent that letter, I hadn't written another. There was far too much to do in the hospital to be sitting down every night to write. I was exhausted most of the time, anyway. Hundreds of wounded soldiers came through the hospital doors, and unfortunately, the graveyard grew bigger every day. It was the middle of March by now.

I was finishing up a surgery when a boy from the village came rushing into the building. Causing a ruckus in the main room. I finished the stitches by the end of my shift, and decided to see what the commotion was. When I got out, I saw a large group of people gathered around a newspaper. Someone yelled for everyone to be quiet so it could be read aloud. I was standing in the doorway when I heard, "His Majesty's Ship, the Dreadnought, rams German U-Boat, successfully sinking the submarine…"

My breath caught in my throat. That was Percy's ship. I edged closer to the group to hear better of what had occurred.

"On the 18th of March, 1915, the U-29 submarine, skippered by Otto Weddigen of German, shot a torpedo at the HMS Neptune, thus engaging the Dreadnought to chase the U-boat a short distance until it surfaced to see its damage. Under the instructions of Captain Perseus Jackson, the battleship rammed the submarine, effectively tearing it in two. In its actions, the Dreadnought almost hits fellow battleship HMS Temeraire, who was also preparing to ram…"

My breath caught in my throat. News always got to us late, so it was no wonder we hadn't heard of it yet. It was March 22nd now. I immediately wondered if everyone was okay. Especially him. He seemed to occupy a majority of my thoughts these days. Our correspondence was very slow. Letters took so long to be sent and delivered.

"Are you thinking about you-know-who again?" Piper asked, appearing next to me.

I blushed, wishing she wouldn't mention Percy to me again. Every time she did, it triggered a defensive mood in me. I knew she didn't mean anything by it, she was just teasing.

Piper laughed at my awkward discomfort, then asked, "Do you mind helping out on one more surgery? Will says that he needed some help with this one."

I nodded without thought. If Will required assistance, I would do my best to assist. "What's the problem?"

Piper led me back to the supply cabinet, where we got gloves and masks to cover our mouths. She began, "It was a gunshot to the face. He's going to need irrigation, debridement, drainage, and partial closure."

I sighed. I could understand why Will wanted help. The poor soldier was going to have a long recovery time. "Is he stable and asleep?"

"Yes." Will came up behind us. This was only the beginning of his shift throughout the night.

"Let's get to it then." I replied with a slight smile.

We were a perfect team. Piper took care of the soldier's minimal injuries while I helped Will with the soldier's face. I hated wounds like this. There was so much damage that I could hardly tell if the victim was alive. We began with irrigation of the wound, hydrating the damaged area with water as well as cleaning out what we could. The gunshot had destroyed the tissue so badly that we could see the man's tongue and teeth through his cheek. Every other minute Will and I had trade places so the other could wipe their hands on their apron, as fluids became very slippery.

Will and I traded places and glanced at my hands. They were pretty watery, and characterized by flecks of damaged skin tissue stuck to the rubber gloves. There was also blood, but that was normal. I prepared the instruments for debridement, which would involve dissecting the tissue of the soldier's face and removing anything that could be infected or dead. This step was by far the messiest, as there would be a healthier flow of blood from the underlying tissue.

"You ready?" I asked Will. He nodded complacently. The towel we were using to soak up the drainage was sopping wet with a mixture of water, blood, and darkened skin tissue. Without a word, Piper had already moved to us, replaced the towel with a new one, and disposed of the rag.

I took up Will's position, and held a smaller rag to soak up the smaller spots of fluids. Will was next handed forceps and a scalpel so he could start clearing away the worst parts of the wound. Every now and then he would trade out tools while I ran a little water over the area to clean it out a little. After Will decided he had done all he could, we thoroughly washed out the wound, and drained all we could.

"He's not going to be able to open his mouth for a while if we do stitches for the skin grafting." I noticed.

Will nodded. "I thought about that. What do you think about a partial closure? That way he could eat through a tube, at lease until the stitched start mending the skin back together."

I rose my eyebrows, considering it. "That could work. Good idea."

Piper spoke, "I'll go find some rubber tubing. How long does it need to be?"

"About 25 centimeters, would you think?" I looked to Will. I wanted desperately to rub my eyes. I was getting tired from the day, not to mention I was hungry.

Will nodded, and Piper went off to go find the supplies.

"Where are we getting the skin graft from?" I asked. Will shrugged, saying, "I don't know yet, Piper will have a better comprehensive of where the body is the least damaged, so we should ask her when she gets back."

I wiped my hands on my dirty apron, and began to clean the station to the best of my ability. Will stood where he was, still holding a cloth to the wound so it wouldn't be messy when we got to the stitches part of the operation.

"Annabeth, are you okay?" Will asked.

I sighed. "I'm just tired."

"Are you sure?" He pushed. "You seem like something is wearing you down more than usual."

I faltered in my movements. Was it that obvious that I was anxious? I nodded slowly to Will. "I'm just anxious."

"Care to tell?"

I pursed my lips. Will wasn't going to let this go. "I'm worried about my father. I haven't heard from him in months. The last letter I received told me that his new wife was expecting twins. He needed my help to support their family. I—I told him no."

Will was about to speak when I continued. "I don't regret my decision to stay here. I know the work we do here is important. But I also wish it didn't have to destroy the already fragile relationship I have with my father. I'm not sure he would ever speak to me again."

"I'm sorry—" Will was about to say something more when Piper came back with the materials we needed. And, like nothing had happened, we moved on with the surgery.

"Sorry I took so long. One of the other nurses wanted to know why I needed it." She lined up the tubing, tape, and a needle and thread. "For the grafting, I think you should use the outside of the thigh. The skin seems pretty healthy there, which should speed up his healing process."

We were silent for the remainder of the surgery. I removed the amount of skin needed and placed it over the wound area. It covered the lower half. From then on, Will took over with stitches, and I helped Piper with wrapping bandages around the leg.

"Do you need any other help, or are Piper and I free to go eat and get some sleep?" I asked, yawning.

"I've got it." Will replied. Piper smiled at him and we left the room.

I pulled off my gloves and mask, tossing them in the bin. I turned to Piper after washing my hands. "Do you want to wash up before or after getting dinner?"

"Before. It's been a long day. I'm glad tomorrow we just have to take care of the upper levels."

"Me too." I responded as we walked to our rooms to collect clothes to change into for dinner. Doctor Pollux (night staff) had the idea for a different kind of schedule. Doctors and their assisting nurses would have two shifts of surgery, and then a day of overseeing the upstairs rooms. It gave things a better flow. The rest of the nurses simply remained with the same day and night schedules. This plan certainly relieved a lot of the doctors and their nurses.

Because so much water was used for the betterment of the soldiers, there wasn't a lot left over for the washing. Piper and I took turns washing in a small bathtub behind a curtain in a tiled room that smelled like lime. I didn't care about the stench, as long as it did its job of keeping the rats away.

Rats were one of the worst parts of trench warfare. As the war had progressed, and the soldiers spent more time out there in the mud, the rats multiplied by the millions. Every single soldier that came to us had some sort of attack from the rats. Most of the injuries came on their feet, and I assumed it was very painful just from examining the wounds.

I let Piper go first in the wash, and I handed the dry clothes around the curtain to her. The first thing she did was put on her stockings and shoes. After a few minutes of dressing, Piper appeared and took my place.

In the bath, I scrubbed my skin raw. There were too many problems right now. I just had to take things day by day. I hoped Percy would write to me soon. Had he forgotten the address because of what had happened to his ship? Would it be too forward if I wrote him another letter? I held my breath as I dunked my head under the cold water, then let the air come out through my nose.

That night, after the candles had been blown out and I had crawled under the blankets, I continued to think about my family issues. I made a promise to myself: Starting tomorrow, I would try to fix the problems I had with my father.