Danny's body was placed on his old bed. He was breathing, but it was ragged. Everyone stood next to his bed: Danny Sr., Katie, June, Seth, Gerald, Maria, and Alicia. All were still in shock from what had transpired just a minute ago. The little girl was also there, gazing at Danny. Danny Sr. checked the top of his head.
"He has a high fever, and by the looks of his shirt and pants he's seen better days," said Danny. "Come on, let's check his wounds."
"Alicia, can you take her to bed?" said Katie.
"Yes. Come on little one," she said, picking up the girl and going out the room.
"Okay, let's get his shirt open," said Danny. He, Gerald, and Seth reached and tore the shirt off. What everyone saw made them all gasp in shock.
Danny's entire upper torso sported deep cuts, claw marks, puncture wounds that looked like he'd been stabbed, and worst of all a large stab wound where his heart was that was half healed and a small red mark above the wound.
"Kate, we need wash cloths. June, get the nectar and ambrosia from the fridge, as well as the flower pot. Maria, get my med kit from under the sink in the restroom. You two, let's check his back," said Danny. Carefully turning him onto his side, as the girls went to do their specific chore, they examined his back. It wasn't much better. Three long slashes went down it, starting from his shoulder blades to the middle of his back.
"It's like he got in a fight with Wolverine," said Gerald.
"Or something worse," said Seth. Katie came back in with wet wash cloths and began to wash off the dirt and dried blood off of her youngest child's chest. Maria came back with the medical bag, handing it to Danny. June came in a second after her and put the pot, nectar, and ambrosia on the night stand. They could only gasp at Danny's wounds, wondering how anyone could have survived them. Alicia came in a few minutes later, her gasp louder than the rest. She backed up into the corner and sat down, her hand to her mouth as tears threatened to spill out. June went down to comfort her as Alicia cried silently into her shoulder.
"I've got it Kate. Help Alicia. This is killing her more than it is us," said Danny.
"Alright. Take care of him," said Katie. She gave him a fleeting kiss before all the girls went out to comfort Alicia.
"Alright, guys, I'm gonna need you possibly all night," said Danny.
"It's alright Dad,I'll do everything to make sure he's well," said Gerald.
"You two are good with healing?" said Danny. Gerald and Seth nodded.
"Alright, let's do this."
From outside the girls could hear Danny's groans and yells as the three men healed him. Maria was holding Alicia, comforting her as the girl shuddered everytime she heard him yell.
It continued like this for six hours before it stopped. A deathly silence filled the house. The three men came out, blood on their hands and partly on their shirts.
"Is he alright?" said Katie.
"Yes, he's fine. He's gonna need a lot of rest though, and there's something else," said Danny.
"What is it?" said Alicia.
"He had a stab wound near his heart. I think there's something in there. We tried to get it, but everytime we tried, his eyes glowed red for some reason and that's where the yelling came from. There's also a small little mark that looks like a hieroglyphic above it. Whatever gave him that wound isn't Greek, Roman, or even Norse," said Danny.
"What do we do now?" said June.
"For now, we let him rest."
(2 weeks later)
When he opened his eyes, he felt a warmth that he hadn't felt in what seemed like years. The sheets and blanket felt so warm and so relaxing. He sat up, finding out that he could it easily without any aches, save for morning aches. He stretched his body out, finding that it no longer pained him to do so. Looking around his old room, he saw a glass of nectar next to him. Without any hesitation he drank it down. It tasted like peaches going down his throat, his favorite food since he could remember. Looking down he saw that he was in a pair of pajama pants and no shirt. To his surprise he saw that most of his wounds were completely healed, save for the cursed wound, as he called it.
Getting up, slowly so as not to have another sudden blackout, he went to his drawer. To his surprise, his clothes were still there. He picked out a plain black shirt and put it on. To his utter surprise it was tight on his body. He remembered all of his shirts had a little room for him to be comfortable and not be a muscle shirt. Puzzled he looked in the mirror and almost jumped back from shock.
He appeared older. His dreadlocks, which he knew was a mess when he came out of the portal, were longer now, going to his shoulder. He always never let it pass his chin. He also realized he was taller now, almost 5'11", up from the 5'8" he was before. And his face, though relatively young, was more defined.
"What is going on?" he said to himself. Slowly, he walked over to his door and opened it to get into the hallway. Still walking slowly he went into the living room. When he looked over to the couch, his breath seized. Alicia was on the couch facing the opposite direction, reading a book. She was wearing a white tank and appeared to be wearing black boyshorts. Her legs looked tantalizingly smooth and her hair was down. It was straight and went down to her upper back.
To say Danny was scared was an understatement. How could he just walk over to her and expect everything to be normal? He strongly wanted to just go back to the room, but he couldn't move. He was paralyzed with fear. As he stared at her, he made up his mind. Softly he spoke her name.
"Ali," he said. She turned around, saw who it was, and quicker than Danny could comprehend, she was hugging him fiercely, her face buried in his chest. He could also feel and hear her crying onto his shirt as her body was racked with sobs. Danny held her to him as they spent a good amount of minutes at that one spot.
When Alicia felt her tears of joy were nearly gone, she looked up at him. No words were spoken as he picked her up bridal style and sat down on the couch, her on his lap.
"I missed you," she said, her face buried into his chest as he stroked her back.
"I missed you terribly. Everyday I was in there, you were always the first thing on my mind," he said, unable to figure out how many emotions were ready to spill out of him at any moment.
"What happened to you?" she asked, her brown eyes staring intently into his green ones, asking him a million questions. However, when she asked that, she saw his eyes darken, filled with absolute horror. He lowered his head down.
"I can't talk about it," he said.
"Please..."
"I CAN'T!" he yelled. He immediately felt guilt and hurt take over his heart when he saw her recoil in fear and hurt from his sudden outburst.
"Oh gods, I'm so sorry Ali, I didn't me...," he tried to say, but he buried his face into his hands. He felt her hands take his and she lifted his head up towards her.
"I know you didn't mean it," she said. A long moment passed between them as they stared into each others' eyes. All of a sudden, they started to kiss each other fiercely. they continued for some time before they broke apart and cuddled together.
"Ali, how long have I been gone?" he asked.
"Three years," she said. She felt him stiffen and nearly jump off the couch with her still in his arms.
"THREE YEARS? How can that be, it felt like only one or so at max," he said, clearly disturbed beyond recognition. "What happened after I was gone?"
"The gods on both sides declared a truce after it was opened. Zeus was taken back with grief because he thought you were dead. Your parents were devastated. Every time your Mom saw a picture of you she'd burst into tears. Your Dad was beside himself for about a year. Your brother would break anything that was in his hands for about that long too if your name was mentioned, and it took awhile for June to calm down," said Alicia.
"Has anything changed?"
"Yes. Gerald and Maria, as well as Seth and June, are still together. Seth formally proposed to her and Gerald and Maria are about to get married soon," said Alicia.
"Already? Aren't they still just third-years?" said Danny.
"They took a lot of classes in the summer and are graduating this winter," said Alicia.
"Didn't see that coming," Danny thought.
"What about you?" said Danny. "I know you might have someone else..."
"Don't finish that. I never moved on, but there's something else you need to know," said Alicia.
"What is it?"
"We have..." Before she could say anything, the doorbell rang. Alicia got off of Danny and went to the door and opened it, him following close behind. Standing in the doorway was the little girl and another woman. She had caramel-skin, light brown eyes, hair tied to make an afro puff on the top, small yet luscious lips, and a figure girls would kill for. She was wearing jeans, a dress shirt with a jean jacket, high heels, and a multicolored scarf, with lip gloss covering her lips and brown eyeshadow. The little girl was wearing jeans and a shirt that had Elmo on it.
"Hi Reese. Thanks for picking up Danielle for me," said Alicia.
"Mommy!" the little girl said before she ran and hugged Alicia's leg.
"Mommy!" Danny thought, his eyes widening.
"Anytime Alicia. How's Dan...Danny?" said Reese. She took a minute to focus on him before she squealed and tackled him into a hug. Danny was taken aback. Sure he was friends with Reese, the two going back to when Danny first went to Camp Half-Blood, but he wasn't expecting her appearance, or the hug part.
"It's been way too long Danny, we should talk, but I have to go, have an appointment. Call me later you two, I'll let you two reconnect," said Reese. Waving bye to Alicia and hugging the girl called Danielle, Reese hurried out the door.
"Mommy?" said Danny, still in shock.
"That was the thing I was trying to tell you about Danny. This is Danielle Renee Stone, our daughter," she said.
Danny stared. A thousand questions formed in his head. How did he have a daughter was the one that kept popping up. Unable to take the news, he did what anyone else would have done in the situation. He fainted.