*Sorry it took so long to get this chapter in. I had to focus on student teaching and college graduation (finally!), but this chapter is a major one in this story. And I have to give a warning for this and the next chapter. So, warning: This chapter has character death and may be sensitive to some readers. Please read with caution.

Chapter 8: The World's First Doctor

Well, after helping to shape Rome, and after weeks of some of Hercules' shenanigans that I apparently missed -don't ask, I'm pissed that I missed out on all the action too- things have been going pretty well for me. Sure, Mom's headaches were getting worse, but she kept claiming that she was fine. So, other than that major scare, everything's pretty much fine. At least, that's what I thought until Career Day at school. That's when everything went from fine to completely terrible.

Let me explain…

It all started on Career Day. Prometheus Academy decided that since our class was the graduating class, it was time for us to get ideas about what we wanted for our future careers after we graduated high school. Granted, most of us already knew what we wanted to be -however, I was stuck deciding between history teacher and geologist, now. So, the school principal asked several people in Athens to come in and present what they do for their jobs. They had the local blacksmith, some fig farmers, seamstresses, and lawyers come in. But my personal favorite of all these people was the woman who gave birth to me as she presented her career to my classmates.

"Hey, kids." Mom greeted everyone. "I'm Sirena, and I'm a tea maker. I brew and sell rare teas for people."

My classmates all gathered around as they watched Mom prepare some amazing-smelling tea. Crushing some tea leaves and other various herbs and flowers we used in our shop and putting them into small bags that were placed into teacups. And after pouring hot water into the teacups, the teas were all starting to brew. I smiled proudly as my classmates all gave amazed looks. True, most of them have had tea when they visited the shop, but they've never seen it be made.

"That's amazing!" Helen beamed at the sight.

"It really is." Melampus agreed before asking a question. "But what exactly is tea?"

"It's a very special drink that is said to reduce stress and strengthen the immune system." Mom explained as she handed me a tray of filled teacups. "Here, try some. We have samples."

I then went out and passed the tea samples for everyone in the crowd. And no, I didn't pass out the typical Black Tea. Oh, no. Mom wanted to go all out today and brought out the big guns when it comes to tea. Green, Oolong, Jasmine, Earl Grey, Chamomile, Herbal, and even the ever-amazing Chai. Needless to say, they all were huge hits among the other students and my classmates. Heck, when I gave Hercules, Icarus, and Cassandra samples, they loved them as well. Especially Cassandra. I never thought of her as a tea person. I figured she liked coffee because it was as bitter as she was.

Cassandra gave a smile as she drank some Chai. "Hey, this stuff's pretty good."

"No one can make tea like Mom, but hopefully I've learned a thing or two from watching her work." I said as I finished handing out samples. "Would you like to hear her favorite tea joke?"

Hercules nodded as he took a sample. "Sure."

"I like jokes." Icarus agreed as he drank his Herbal Tea.

I grinned as I began. "Okay. Well, I can't remember how it starts, but the punchline is 'Leaf me alone, I'm bushed'."

The joke was left with zero laughs and confused faces.

"Well, it's funnier when Mom tells it." I said awkwardly.

"Maybe it's because she remembers it." Cassandra remarked.

The four of us had a good laugh at her comment.

Hercules then looked over at one of the booths and smiled largely. "Hey, Phil's getting ready to talk!"

The four of us got excited, and after I gave Mom back the tray I used for the samples, we all went to see Phil talk about his career of training heroes. I thought it was great that the school let him come in for Career Day to tell students about the perks of having heroism or training heroes as a job, and I guess Phil liked it too. After all, apart from being a coach and dreaming about one of his heroes becoming a constellation, Phil loved telling stories about his past trainees.

"Hero: It's not just an adventure, it's a job!" Phil started to tell a story about one past hero. "Like the time Jason and I took down the Calydonian Boar."

While I was invested with how Phil's story was like in this world when it came to the legendary Calydonian Boar, and I thought Hercules would be the most invested in the story, but I actually caught my demigod friend looking elsewhere. Herc's attention was towards a booth where only one guy -a middle-aged, redheaded, bearded man in what looked like blue doctor scrubs was sitting by himself at a booth full of medical supplies. I read the sign above the booth, where I discovered that the scrubs and medical supplies weren't just a fashion statement.

"Hey, Aria, what's a doctor?" Hercules asked me.

"A doctor is a guy who sits by himself at a booth because apparently it would seem that-" Icarus tried to bring a suggested explanation before giving up. "I don't know."

"Nice try." Cassandra smirked at him.

"Doctors are actually people help cure the sick." I gave a better explanation. "Like healers, and they use tools and specific techniques to cure people."

"Really?" Hercules asked in interest. "This I gotta check out."

And with that, Hercules wandered off to talk to the doctor. While I was okay with him exploring other careers other than the Hero Path -I think he also took an interest in a Librarian career, but I was sick that day, so I have no idea if that was true or not- I was surprised he got interested in the medical field. Mom would've been overjoyed to know that because she wanted to be a pharmacist before she got into tea making, but there was one person who was not happy about Herc's sudden change of interest.

"Now, keep in mind, this was a big pig." Phil continued with his story. "So, we staked out the north side olive grove-"

Phil stopped telling the story when he saw his trainee talking to the doctor. Needless to say, the goat-man did not approve.

Phil pushed past Cassandra, Icarus, and I to confront the doctor. "Excuse me, kids."

"Ooh, well, somethin's got his goat." Icarus stated.

Cassandra nodded. "Consumed by the green-eyed-monster."

"Nah. I think he's just jealous that Herc's talking to that doctor guy." Icarus shook his head.

I rolled my eyes at Icarus before going to check up on Phil. "C'mon. We better go make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

"Too late for that." Cassandra pointed out.

We looked and saw that right as he was pulling Hercules away from the doctor to get the demigod focused on the hero career, Phil accidentally stepped on a rock, and he tripped over. Falling head-first into a pillar that was holding up a small statue of Athena that ended up falling on Phil's head, knocking him unconscious. Luckily, Mom was nearby and reacted quickly to the situation as my friends and I rushed over to help out Phil.

"Oh, my goodness." Mom gasped as she got out from behind her booth. "Is he okay?"

"Hmm. Acute subdural hematoma." the doctor diagnosed Phil's condition. "We've got to get him to my hospital."

Wait. They had hospitals in this time, too?

Ten Minutes Later

Well, Ancient Greek healthcare is way faster than modern-day American, because it did not take long for the doctor to get Phil to his hospital in downtown Athens. My friends, my mom, and I all came along to make sure Phil was okay and would make a speedy recovery. But I was still very impressed that there was an actual doctor -let alone a hospital- in Ancient Greece. There weren't very many of either in this age, that is, until Asclepius came along. And I've never ran into him, at least not yet.

Anyway, when we got to the hospital, the doctor, who I found out was called Hippocrates, got Phil into a room to help him wake up. A whole team of nurses all waited for the doctor to give them the prognosis and address them of what they needed to do in order to help Phil. My friends, my mom, and I waited in the room in anticipation. This was pretty exciting, but all this fuss over an unconscious satyr? I never got quite the treatment all those times I got hit in the head last year. Phil's quite the lucky goat-man in this situation.

"Sterilize the forceps." Hippocrates told his nurses as he tended Phil. "I may need to transect his post-infarctive corpus callosum."

Okay, all that sounded like pure gibberish to me. I know it sounded super important. Look, I know nothing about the medical field, okay? I don't even watch those cliché doctor dramas to know what goes on in hospitals. All I know is that the doctors in those shows would immediately get their license removed for pretty much everything they do when it comes to their patients. It's not bad stuff morally, but apparently that's how their system works. All my medical knowledge comes from what Mom taught me.

"I didn't understand any of that." I finally said.

Mom clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, it reminds me of my medical classes in college."

I gave her a confused look. "I thought you had me when you were almost eighteen?"

"I graduated high school early." Mom explained in an unsure tone. "Went commute, met your dad, then had you."

I gave a suspicious glance at her and her statement, but brushed it aside to focus on the Phil situation.

"Is Phil gonna be okay?" Hercules then asked the doctor.

"Relax, my friends. My medical techniques are state of the art." Hippocrates assured us all before looking at one nurses. "Leeches, stat!"

Icarus and I backed up when we saw a nurse reach into a large amphora and pulled out two giant leeches. The little toothed worms squirmed and chomped around to try and bite anything that gave blood as the nurse presented them to Hippocrates. The doctor then put on some gloves and took the leeches out of the nurses hands and held them up like they were defibrillator pads. Ready to get Phil conscious again.

"Clear!" Hippocrates shouted right before he put the leeches on Phil's chest.

Phil immediately woke up, screamed when he saw the leeches, and immediately pulled them off his chest. Glaring up at the doctor who helped him.

"Hands off the fur, buster!" Phil yelled.

"Yep. He's okay." Cassandra nodded in confirmation.

I know Phil should've been more grateful that Hippocrates was able to help him, but I actually understood his anger and jealousy. His trainee that he had hopes would make it bigger than all his past ones -especially Achilles- was getting distracted by a different path choice. Phil was starting to feel like all his hard work in training Hercules was going to be for nothing if Herc starts getting into the medical field. But, hey, what the heck do I know? I'm not a therapist.

"Let's go, Herc." Phil said as he started making his way out of the hospital room. "I want out of this nuthouse."

"Uh, Phil, I thought I might stick around for a while." Herc said as he looked around the room. "All this is fascinating."

Hippocrates had a proud smile as he placed a hand on Herc's shoulder. "Join me as I push the envelope of medical science."

Phil scoffed. "The only thing I'm pushin' is the door."

And with that, Phil left the hospital room and hospital in a huff.

"You know, I could recommend a good veterinarian." Hippocrates told Hercules.

Cassandra and I snickered at that remark before Mom's glare immediately shut us up.

"Well, don't just stand there, lad." Hippocrates smiled at Hercules. "Join me in the great adventure called health care."

"Count me in!" Herc said excitedly before turning towards Icarus. "Icarus, you wanna stick around for a while?"

"Might be a good idea." Icarus stated as he started pulling a bunch of leeches off him.

Cassandra thought for a moment. "Eh, why not? Can't be as miserable as Career Day."

Hercules then turned towards me. "What about you, Aria?"

I thought about it, and well, working in a hospital did sound a little fun. Plus, it'll look really good on a college application and on a job resumé. I work in a hospital, and I'll be able to get any history teaching job I want. And if that job doesn't work out, hospital work wouldn't be as different when it comes to geology. Both careers are about using special tools and a keen sense of sight to find a specific thing, like particular organs or gemstones. A perfect practice for a perfect practice!

This idea was brilliant!

I gave my mom excited grin. "Oh, Mom, can I?"

Mom gave a soft smile as she gave me a nod. "Sounds like fun!"

I gave an excited squeal before I hugged her. "Thanks, Mom!"

Later that Week

Working in a hospital was more fun that I thought! Sure, I've mostly been serving meals to patients and not really getting to enjoy watching the doctor at work, but it was still pretty fun. And the others were loving their jobs too! Icarus was put in charge of the front desk and calling out patient names to let them know Hippocrates was ready to see them, Cassandra had a job keeping track of medical records and putting them onto the patients' beds so they would be easily accessible, and Hercules basically worked as Hippocrates's male nurse and always helped him out.

I began announcing my entry into the room. "Room ser-"

The moment I looked up to see my patients look up from reading some newsscrolls, I stopped talking and smirked at them. Out of every single roasting from Hades, getting crushed by boulders, being used as chew toys as Cerberus, now's the time Pain and Panic finally decided to get medical treatment for an incident. I didn't get a chance to look at their charts to see what landed them both in the hospital, but whatever happened to them was bound to be interesting. Especially since they didn't seem to have a single bruise, scratch, bite mark, or burn mark on them.

"What'd you two do this time?" I asked the imps.

"We got slammed by a door." Pain explained. "After we shoved an oar into us both."

"Who knew stuff like that would be considered an emergency?" Panic gave a smile.

"Considering the amount of damage you guys manage to get yourselves get into, you'd be surprised how much damage a door to the face can cause." I said as I handed each of them cups of tea and a large bowl full of cherries. "Here. Mom brewed the tea. The cherries were my touch."

"Oh, thanks." the imps smiled as they each took the cups and cherry bowl.

"Don't know about you, but I've never felt so soothed." Pain smiled as he laid in the bed to relax.

Panic nodded as he sipped his tea. "I forgot why we even came here."

"Could it possibly be to kill the doctor, you idiots?!" Hades' voice asked in an angry tone.

As if the Fates just loved to keep messing with me, two massive smoky arms manifested from the floor, grabbed the imps and myself, and the next thing I knew, the three of us were laying on the Underworld throne room floor in a pile. I rolled the imps off me and then immediately glared up at Hades. Just once, I would absolutely love not to get dragged -literally in this case- into one of my ex-boss' schemes to either kill Hercules, kill somebody, or takeover Olympus and shape it into his image after months of being free from working for him because of some dumb prophecy the Fates had foreseen. But then again, the Fates just love screwing with me that much to not give me some peace.

"What are you doing here?" he had the nerve to ask me that.

"I was doing intern work at the hospital." I told him as I stood up. "So, sending the imps to kill medical professionals, now? Do I even need to know why?"

"Numbers are down to squat! That's why!" Hades said. "More than they were months ago!"

I blinked. "Really?"

"Yes! The doctor is curing people. The business is going to -well, y'know to here." Hades explained before sounding like he was giving a motivational speech to the imps. "But we're gonna fight back! We're not gonna give up, right?"

"Ooh, this looks good," Panic said as he started reading from the newsscroll he had in the hospital. "An ouzo salesman wanted. Salary plus dental."

Hades gave me an annoyed look as he pointed a thumb at the imps. "Are they joking with this?"

"Hey, I don't even know what an ouzo is." I shrugged in defense.

Hades rolled his eyes, and immediately roasted the imps to get them to pay attention. "RIGHT?"

"But, your viciousness, this guy's good!" Pain told him after coughing up smoke.

Panic nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and now with Aria and Hercules working with him-"

"Hercules?" Hades repeated before flaming up again. "Oh, that's just great!"

"Uh, sir, a-are you being ironic again? Because it's really hard to tell?" Panic asked as he shook off the soot from his body.

I was taken aback at his comment. "And it's hard to tell if that was sarcasm or not."

"It wasn't!" Panic quickly defended himself, trying to avoid getting roasted again. "I swear!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Hades thought for a moment. "This is great!"

Pain gave a confused look as he dusted himself off. "Uh, it is?"

"Yeah!" Hades started to explain. "Hercules always wants to help people: Little humanity helper Hercules."

"I'm assuming there's a 'but' to this?" I cynically asked.

"No 'buts'." Hades stated. "Now, he's gonna help me."

"He is?" Panic asked in confusion.

"He can help me spread a little something left over from Pandora's Box." Hades gave a sinister smile.

Hades then went over to this throne, pulled out a brick that sat on the left side of it, and pulled out something: A small green amphora with a lid on it. The moment Hades' spider-like fingers grazed the lid to barely open it, sickly green smoke started to spew out and I swore I heard someone from inside it talking. Unfortunately, I didn't really want to know what it was saying because I was too busy covering my nose and mouth to prevent myself from breathing in that smoke.

"I think Dr. Die-Little is about to be plagued with trouble." Hades chuckled at a dark thought.

Yeah, I needed to get out of the Underworld sooner than ASAP.

"Oh, no!" I shook my head and held up my free hand. "You're not roping me into another one of your death schemes."

"What?" Hades asked. "Not gonna be a team player?"

"I'm still trying to move past the last time I was a team player for you." I snapped at him. "Sorry, but count me out."

"Fine." Hades agreed before putting the lid back onto the jar. "Want me to send you back to your mom's place?"

"Sure." I shrugged nonchalantly. "My shift at the hospital's up, and I left my pearls at home."

Panic's POV

And with a snap of Hades' fingers, Aria disappeared and was probably back at home with her mom.

As much as I didn't want to bring it up, but this should've been the opportunity for Hades to tell Aria about her mom. I mean, I know Sirena hasn't said anything about what's happening, I've known her since she was eighteen, Sirena's more indecisive than I am about big decisions, but Aria deserved to know about Hades' and Sirena's arrangement for… well, for when it happens. And Hades did say that Sirena wasn't gonna be around much longer.

I swallowed a nervous feeling. "Uh, boss?"

"What?" Hades responded.

"M-maybe you should've told Aria about the… arrangement?" I asked.

"Yeah, you said Sirena didn't have much time left." Pain added.

"I'll worry about it when it happens." "But when you two spread that plague, don't let it touch her or Aria, capische?"

Pain and I shared nervous looks before nodding. "Got it."

Hades gave us the plague amphora, and we went to get some rest for our mission the next morning. But neither one of us couldn't shake the feeling that Hades or Sirena haven't said a word to Aria about what was gonna happen. I mean, Pain and I would've said something had Hades hadn't forced us to swear upon the Styx not to tell her, but still, you'd think as Aria's mom and ex-boss, they would suck up their own pride and just tell her that when her mom dies, Aria's gonna be living in the Underworld.

The Next Day

Aria's POV

"Thanks for coming with me to talk to Phil about me working at the hospital." Hercules told me as we walked towards the training grounds.

"Hey, no problem." I assured him.

This morning would've felt normal because of Hercules and I going to Phil's island to talk about Herc getting a potential internship at the hospital under Hippocrates, but I had a bad feeling in my gut. The night before, after Hades sent me back home, Mom collapsed. She was thankfully okay and blamed it all on her migraines and a bit of a head rush from standing up too quickly, but this was way worse than any of her spells before. I know I shouldn't worry so much, especially since Mom claims that she's fine, but that was the third time this month she's collapsed due to her migraines. I had a really bad feeling about it.

"Something wrong?" Herc asked me, noticing my worried expression.

"It's Mom," I told him. "She hasn't been feeling well lately, and I'm really worried about her."

"Is it those headaches again?" he asked me.

"Yeah, they're getting worse, but she refuses to ask Hippocrates to help her with it no matter how many times I talk to her about it." I said. "She says that nothing he can do will help her."

"There's gotta be something." Hercules said before giving me a comforting thought. "Besides, I'm sure she'll be okay. If she's anything like you, she'll bounce back to normal in no time."

I gave a sigh. "I hope so."

Hercules gave a supportive smile before we continued to look for his coach. "Phil, where are you?"

"Catch!"

I gave a surprised yelp when I saw a bunch of equipment get thrown right at Hercules and I. Herc managed to catch everything, it's times like this I'm thankful he's got godly strength, and we saw Phil heading towards us with an excited look on his face. No doubt thinking that Hercules had gotten the whole "doctor fanatic" out of his system and wanted to get back into hero training. Unfortunately for Phil, that was not the case today.

"Sneak attacks today, I'm assuming?" I casually asked.

"Nah, that was last month, Creepy Eyes." Phil said as he grabbed some more equipment and led us to the training grounds. "Today we are really gonna sweat it up! Primo hero stuff!"

Herc tried to speak up. "Phil, I, uh-"

"Isn't it great to be back doing what you were born to do?" Phil asked him. "I mean, Career Day is fun, but a doctor?"

"Uh, about that," Hercules began. "Aria has something she has to say to you."

I gave him a mean look. "Excuse me?"

Phil stopped in his tracks and turned towards us. "That doctor stuff is all out of your system, right?"

"That's just what Hercules wanted to tell you." I told him while glaring at Herc.

Herc gave me a surprised look. "What?"

"Rule Number 1: Never have me talk for you about serious stuff." I said.

Hercules gave a groan in defeat as he put the equipment down and started talking to Phil. "I was gonna ask if I could skip practice to help Hippocrates again. You weren't planning anything special today, were you?"

"No, nothing too special." Phil said -clearly hiding the fact that he planned something special. "But, kid, you already got a career."

"Yeah, dude, this hero biz was all you ever wanted." I added.

"But, I'm in training with Hippocrates too!" Hercules told us. "Maybe to be a different kind of hero."

Phil gave an offended gasp. "Don't you dare use the 'H' word for that guy!"

Herc raised his hands in defense. "Yes. I just-"

"HELP!"

Our heads snapped up and started looking around. We couldn't see anyone, but that defiant cry for help was loud enough to sound super close by. Another, much louder scream then echoed nearby, and my attention went straight towards the cliffside of the island. Right to where the bay would be. Hercules and I rushed to see what was wrong, and we saw that a small boat had gotten caught in a current in the ocean and was sailing right towards some sharp rocks on the beach. With a man and woman inside the boat holding on for dear life.

"We're gonna get smashed to bits!" the woman shrieked.

"We gotta save them!" Hercules said to me.

I nodded and then whistled for Pegasus to come help us -Herc taught me that little trick. The winged horse came to us, and after Herc and I saddled up, Pegasus took flight towards the boat so we could save the couple before they got shipwrecked. The waves were strong that day, but the might of the winged horse was stronger. And when we flew in close to the couple, Hercules and I reached down and grabbed the couples' hands just in time before their ship crashed into the rocks.

"Don't worry, we've got you!" I told them as I helped Herc pull them onto Pegasus' back.

Once we got the couple on the horse, we flew back towards Phil on the island. However, as we were flying, I swore I heard someone talking as Pegasus soared through the Mediterranean air.

"Pleah! Sushi!" one voice gagged at something.

"Don't blow our cover, stupid." another voice whispered sharply to the first.

"Hey, did you hear something?" I asked Hercules.

Herc gave a shrug. "No."

I brushed the thought aside right as Pegasus landed next to Phil. I helped the couple off the horse and Phil came over to congratulate Hercules on the speedy and well-handled rescue.

"Good work, kid, I'm proud of ya." Phil congratulated him. "Y'see, that's what a real hero does."

I eyed the goat-man with a mean look. "What? Only one person helped out?"

"Hey, you did good too, Creepy Eyes." Phil complimented me. "Who knows, maybe you've got a career in heroics too in your future."

"I'll keep that in mind." I said as I leaned against an exhausted Pegasus.

"Ow, my neck!" the lady then shrieked as her head literally fell off of her neck. "I think I broke it!"

"My arm! It hurts!" the man yelled as his left arm literally fell right off his body.

I blinked at them in a very disturbed way. "That's something you don't see every day."

"Phil, we have to take these people to the doctor." Hercules said.

"Hey, what am I? Chopped mutton?" Phil brushed the doctor suggestion aside and tried putting the man's arm back in its socket. "I'm a trainer. I can handle an injury as good as any doctor. It's easy: Just a little elbow grease."

Well, no sooner than when Phil got the arm back in the socket, it fell right back out. And the man's other arm fell out too. Something weird was going on, but I was more surprised by the fact that the man wasn't even bleeding from his injuries, same with the lady. But then again, I was basically living in a TV show aimed for families, so I guess it made sense that there was no blood in sight.

"Walk it off, pops." Phil brushed off the problem and walked away.

"You're the pinnacle of fixing injuries, Phil." I cynically stated.

"I'm sorry, Phil, but these people need Hippocrates." Hercules told the goat-man as he helped the couple and I back on Pegasus. "We'll be back just as soon as we drop them off at the hospital!"

And with that, the winged horse took off and flew away from the island.

Two Minutes Later

It didn't take long to fly back to Athens to get to the hospital, but the moment we got there, something went horribly wrong. The moment Pegasus landed at the hospital, I saw that all the people within two miles of the hospital's entrance had fallen to their knees, coughing violently, moaning miserably, and now had sickly green skin tones. The latter of which reminded me of that smoke from that plague amphora Hades had. Hercules and I stood in shock at the horrific sight, right as Hippocrates came outside to see what the matter was.

"W-what is this?" Hippocrates asked in disbelief when he saw what was happening.

"Oh, just a little plague!" Pain's voice came from the woman.

"Complements of Hades!" the man added with a cackle that sounded exactly like Panic's voice. "Lord of the Underworld!"

Hercules and I looked at the couple to see them turn from humans into my imps. I couldn't believe it. In all the time I've seen the imps shapeshift, they never once had been able to successfully trick me into thinking that they were actually people. Well, until today, apparently! I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner! Worst of all, I did the one thing I never wanted to do after months of living away from the imps' boss: Join in on one of their little schemes. Now, all of Athens was sick with a plague; a plague I helped spread.

Hercules immediately looked at me. "Aria, did-"

"I had nothing to do with this." I told him with a frightened expression. "I swear!"

"The little lady's got a point." Hades' voice spoke up as he appeared in front of us in a puff of smoke. "But you know what, Jerkules? I couldn't have done it without you. You the man!"

Hercules stumbled back a little in disbelief. Processing that he, a hero-in-training, was responsible for spreading a plague all across Athens. I tried to help him stand steady, but even I couldn't think straight knowing that I unknowingly helped spread the plague. The day after finding out Hades was going to spread it so he could get more dead people in the Underworld. I didn't want any part of Hades' plan, but yet I managed to get roped into it. This was awful!

"The town is gonna put up a statue to you," Hades patted Hercules on the shoulder before laughing. "IF there's anybody alive left to build it!"

And with that, Hades and the imps disappeared in a puff of smoke. Leaving Herc and I to deal with the mess he laid out for us.

"What have I done?" Hercules said in disbelief.

"What have we done?" I corrected, as I felt like the whole world came crumbling down.

Later

All hands were on deck after Hades left the mortal realm. Hippocrates had Icarus, Cassandra, and I tend to most of the people who were affected by the plague while Hercules took Pegasus to search for more victims to try and save them. While Cassandra spent her time assuring most of the victims would survive from this tragedy, I went around to try and give tea to the victims. I knew it wouldn't be much help, but it was all I could think of to try and lift their weakened spirits.

And then came the most terrible news I've ever gotten in my life.

"Aria, come quick!" Icarus called out to me frantically from the hospital entrance. "It's your mother!"

I felt both my heart and the tray of teacups drop and shatter he moment he said that. I immediately ran back into the hospital, where Icarus quickly led me towards the Emergency Room, where my worst fears were confirmed. Mom was in the hospital. Though she didn't support a sickly green skin tone like most people infected with the plague were, she looked weak and very sick. Holding onto her head and coughing violently as she staggered to keep steady before falling to her knees.

"Mom!" I cried out as I nearly tripped just to get to her.

Mom weakly looked in my direction. "Aria, is that you?"

"Yes, Mom, it's me." I told her as I held her hand. "You're gonna be okay, I promise!"

Mom groaned in pain as she grabbed my arm. "Help me up."

"Hippocrates, help!" I called out frantically for the doctor as I helped Mom to her feet. "Help me, please! It's my mother!"

Hippocrates came rushing in, and immediately ushered Mom and I to the nearest hospital bed.

"Here, set her down." the doctor said as he gently helped Mom into bed.

Mom groaned weakly as Hippocrates called for some nurses to help with Mom. I couldn't believe out of all the rotten schemes Hades had pulled; he had the gall to get Mom sick in his latest one. I thought he cared about her! Why would he release a plague knowing she could get infected? But then again, something about Mom didn't feel right compared to the other plague victims. She looked weak, but her skin color wasn't the sickly green as the others. In fact, it was just pale. Something was really wrong with Mom.

One of the nurses noticed my scared expression and tried to offer me some assurance. "We'll do what we can for her, sweetheart."

"Thank you." I nodded as I kept holding Mom's hand.

"Doctor! There's an alert in I.C.U!" Hercules came into the room with a frantic look. "A patient's in danger!"

Hippocrates nodded and followed after Hercules. I wanted to go with them, but I couldn't leave my mom. Not when she was like this, she needed me!

"Go," Mom told me through pained breaths. "H-help them."

I shook my head, not wanting to leave her side. "But, Mom-"

"Just go! They need your help more than me." Mom stopped me.

I wanted to argue back. I wanted to stay by her side, but I knew Mom better than that. She's not the type of person to care about herself when other people were hurting, and she raised me to think of others' needs before my own. Even though my needs were to stay with Mom for support and love, I knew that I had to leave to help Hippocrates. So, with a heavy heart, I kissed Mom on the forehead, and started to leave the room.

"I'll be back, Mom." I promised her right before running out to find the others.

I managed to find Hippocrates and Hercules outside in the hall pushing a gurney with a plague victim laying on it. I followed them into an empty operating room where Icarus was sterilizing all the equipment for Hippocrates to use to heal the sick man, who looked like he was just mere moments from passing away. I immediately helped Hercules lay the man on the operating table so we could help the doctor.

"We have no time to lose!" Hippocrates said before having Icarus bring him things. "Fluids!"

"Breathing shallow." Hercules said as he listened to the patient's breathing.

"Suction."

I took a stethoscope and listened to the man's dimming heartbeat. "Heart rate's slow."

"Mustard plaster."

"I'm losing the pulse!" I yelled.

"C'mon, c'mon, live!" Hippocrates cried out as he tried shaking the patient awake. "Live you idiot!"

But the patient did no such thing.

You know how in movies or shows, when the doctors are doing everything they can to save a patient but hear the continuous flatline despite their efforts? Picture that, but without the technology. No flatlines, no shock pads, no nothing that could've possibly saved or revived this man. The four of us knew he was gone when his pulse had finally disappeared, and the body looked like nothing more than an empty husk. I think that was the first time I actually saw a dead body in general not just their soul. It was a reminder like that why I didn't want to be like Mom and go into medicine.

"Doc…" I gave Hippocrates the bad news. "He's gone."

The doctor bowed his head and covered the patient's body with the blanket.

"Aria," he ordered me. "Call it."

I nodded reluctantly and looked at the room's sundial. "Time of death: 13:05."

"We lost him." Hippocrates expressed defeat. "I lost him."

The doctor then left the room and the hospital to sit on the steps to process what all has happened. And honestly, I couldn't blame him. After working for him these last few days, Hippocrates managed to make sure every single one of his patients were cured from whatever illness they had, major or minor. He did so many miraculous things to make sure people never died, but this was different. This time, he had an illness he couldn't find a cure for. That corpse in the room was the first patient Hippocrates couldn't save.

And the worst part of it all, Hercules and I blamed ourselves for letting it happen. Which is exactly what we did when we joined Hippocrates outside on the steps to wallow in our self-pity and guilt.

"I should've listened to my mother," Hippocrates muttered to himself. "Gone into fig farming."

"Who was I kidding to think I could do what you do?" Herc started to blame himself. "Darn it, I'm a hero. Not a doctor."

"I was so stupid." I processed my own thoughts out loud. "How could I let myself get tricked that easily?"

"Hey, a pity party!" Icarus tried to lighten the mood as he stood behind us. "I love these."

"Now's not a good time, Icarus." I told him.

"Oh, c'mon, we can't stop here!" Icarus said positively.

"It's over, Icarus." Hippocrates told him. "I lost a patient."

"But you can't quit now." Icarus went on. "What about all those patients who still need you? What about Aria's mom?"

Hippocrates groaned in aggravation. "Icarus, I-"

"Don't you 'Icarus, I' me! You can't give up!" Icarus told him encouragingly. "Sure, things look bad, sure, the whole city's sick, sure, you can't do a ding-dang-diddly about it, but you-"

Well, those words of encouragement lasted longer than I thought Icarus would go, but he had a point. Things look bad, but sitting around feeling bad about ourselves wasn't going to solve anything. At least, that's what I thought Icarus was getting at.

Icarus sat down in defeat. "Whoa, now I'm depressed."

"Wait. You're right!" Hercules said in realization. "We can't quit now!"

"Oh, yes we can." Icarus whimpered.

"Maybe not." I stated, feeling a bit better. "Let's hear Herc out."

"A true hero doesn't give up without a fight: If his sword doesn't work, he tries arrows. If arrows don't work, he tries spears!" Hercules went on. "Rule #157. Phil taught me that."

"Wait a moment!" the doctor lit up with an idea. "That's it!"

Icarus gave a confused look. "What's it?"

Hippocrates stood up and walked right back into the hospital with the guys and I following him. He led us into his office where he pulled down a screen with drawings and descriptions of various plants and herbs. The descriptions all talking about the healing properties each different plant and herb was known for. I remember seeing something similar in Mom's old medical journals she used to keep around the tea shop. I knew what this was!

"I've been toying with something radically new!" Hippocrates then told us. "I call it 'medicine'."

"Medi-what?" Icarus repeated in confusion.

"It's something people take to cure their illnesses." I explained. "You can either drink it or swallow little pebble-sized capsules."

"Precisely," Hippocrates then shook his head. "But what am I saying? It's impossible! The ingredients are very rare. They're scattered all over the world."

"Hey, that's my kind of job!" Hercules said.

Hippocrates gave a proud smile before taking out a pen and paper. "Okay, here's what I need."

I looked over the doctor's shoulder to read off the list of ingredients needed to make the medicine, when two particular ones caught my eye.

"Jasmine blossoms and Camellia sinensis leaves?" I read off what I read in excited hope. "I know where we could get those!"

Hercules gave a surprised look. "You do? Where?"

"From my mom's shop!" I said elatedly, knowing that I could help save my mom.

"Your mom sells herbs and exotic flora?" Hippocrates asked.

"Not exactly. She owns a tea shop, but we use these as ingredients in our teas." I explained. "I can get the blossoms and leaves, but Herc's gonna have to get the others."

"Make haste, both of you!"

Hercules and I nodded, and we raced out of the hospital. Hercules took off on Pegasus to get the majority of the medicine ingredients while I raced back to the tea shop as fast as I could to get the blossoms and leaves. Knowing that they could help be a part of the very thing that could cure the plague and heal my mom. I started to think that things might start turning around for the better the closer I got to the shop.

Later

After Hercules and I got the ingredients, we managed to race back to the hospital before any other fatalities could occur. Hippocrates used what we got him and managed to make an entire cauldron's worth of medicine. Just enough to heal pretty much everyone in Athens. Whatever plague Hades used obviously was one that was easily curable, which was great for me, especially when I managed to snag some so I could heal my mom.

At least, that's what I thought…

When I got to Mom's room in the hospital, she looked miserable, like she would pass away any second. I knew there was no time to waste. I went over to her bed, but the moment she looked up at me when she saw the medicine, she got a sad look in her eyes. One that meant bad news, but for what? She didn't have to look so sad. She was gonna get better, I'd make sure of it. The medicine was gonna help get rid of the plague.

"Aria, put that away," Mom said to me. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" I asked.

Mom took a regretful sigh. "I'm dying."

"No, you're not." I assured her. "We have the medicine, we're gonna cure you, a-and you're gonna be fine."

"No, sweetie. Not from the plague." Mom shook her head regretfully. "I didn't want to tell you this, but before I came here, I went to the doctor about my headaches."

I felt my heart drop. "What?"

"I had a tumor removed," Mom continued, her voice growing more regretful. "But it wasn't enough…"

In my state of shock, I felt the cup of medicine slip through my fingers and spill all over the floor at my feet. She couldn't mean what I thought she meant. There was just no way. There was no way in Tartarus that she had cancer. I didn't want to believe it, but the headaches made more sense to me as the unimaginable flooded through my mind. I wanted to deny it so badly. She just couldn't have cancer. She couldn't die! Not like this!

I shook my head in disbelief. "No…"

"They gave me three months to live, and I thought I was clean after the three, but I wasn't" Mom finished. "That's why I've been having all those migraines and dizzy spells. I'm not getting better."

"No. No, Momma, w-we're gonna fix this!" I felt tears sting my eyes. "You're gonna be fine! I won't let you die!"

"Aria, you know what they have here won't help me." Mom told me. "Even Apollo couldn't heal me."

"What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"It was during the Big Games. After I had that migraine, I asked Apollo to heal me, but he was unable to heal what I have." she explained. "Like there was something preventing him from healing me."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I finally asked her.

"I didn't want you to feel guilty. I know that you've felt awful after what happened last year and wanted to get past it all." Mom said as she held my hand. "I didn't want you to feel burdened by my mistake."

Hercules then entered the room frantically. "Aria, it's Hippocrates, he's-"

He stopped himself when he saw me with my mom. I didn't know if it was because I was crying or because he saw how weakened Mom looked, but Herc's face shifted into a concerned one and walked over to the bedside. Standing right next to me as Mom gave him a weak smile. I didn't want him to get roped into this, but I was glad he was here with me. I don't think I could've handled what was going to happen next on my own.

"Sirena, what's wrong?" Hercules asked her.

"Thank you for being my daughter's friend." Mom held his hand. "I'm sorry if I never got the chance to tell you that."

Hercules was taken aback from Mom's actions before turning to me with a sad look on his face. "She's not sick from the plague, is she?"

I shook my head as I started to cry more.

"Aria?" Mom's voice shook weakly.

"I'm sorry, Mom…" I apologized for letting this happen. "I'm so sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for." Mom told me. "I've lived my life; I have no regrets. And I'm grateful to have you as my daughter."

She then reached up to me and put her hand on my cheek. I held onto it just to feel her embrace. I felt her thumb wipe away my tears, but her touch felt different when she did that. As if she used up all of her strength just to comfort me when I felt like I let her down. I looked at her one last time, right as Mom closed her eyes and her hand fell off my face. The only thing I remember next was falling to my knees, screaming in agony as Hercules did his best to comfort me.

Later

Hades' POV

Just the kind of thing I needed for the day.

No sooner than I got the doc eighty-sixed and on the next entry for the River Styx than he spent his remaining time as a soul -get this- healing dead people! I normally wouldn't say this, but I'm glad my annoyance of a nephew and the goat man came in and got him out. At least I got the doc to take days off from healin' folks and got him thinkin' about double billing patients, but the exhaustion of it all took a number on me. I practically spent the last hour or so slouched on my throne just contemplating how someone as worthless as a mortal could heal dead people.

As if my problems couldn't get any worse, I heard the imps walk towards the throne. The sound of their tails draggin' on the floor annoyed me, but I assumed they had a good excuse as to why they weren't buzzin' off and marking off all the souls who managed to stay dead on the reports.

"What?" I addressed them dryly.

"Boss," Pain swallowed sadly. "I-it happened."

I sat up from my throne in shock and disbelief. It couldn't have happened. Not already, I made sure she wasn't affected by the plague unless… Oh, Tartarus, don't let it be true.

"What happened?" I asked, already regretting what the answer was.

"It happened…" Panic sniffed back tears. "Sirena's dead."

Later

Aria's POV

It was a small service.

Hercules and my other school friends came to support me, as well as everyone who were regular customers of my mom's shop. I never realized how much time she dedicated her career and being a mother and a tea shop owner until that rainy day. When pretty much everyone in Greece and a few people from Rome came to pay their respects. After departing words were said, the drachmas were placed on her eyes and the carnations casted on her casket, I stayed at the funeral to bury her alone.

I should've seen the signs of her having cancer, I should've known that the headaches were a result of the tumor, I should've done more to help her, I should've gone back home with her when we had the chance, we could've figured out how to permanently remove the tumor or gotten her chemo treatment. But, no, I just had to stay in this world. I just had to live a new life with her just to get past all the bad stuff I did when I was forced to work for Hades. If I wasn't so selfish and guilty from what I did last year, then maybe I could've saved her. Now she was gone, for good, and it was all because of me. This was all my fault.

"Aria?"

I sniffled as I turned my head around and saw a man standing behind me with a saddened stance. I hadn't seen him during the service, but he must've come to apologize for my loss. The man wore a black hooded cloak that covered most of his body. He had a seemingly normal face with smokey gray hair and sad yellow eyes, just like mine, but the voice told me everything I needed to know about him.

Hades opened out his arms. "C'm here, kid."

I ran towards him and hugged him tightly as I cried into his cloak. As mad as I was at him after everything he did days before the service, I was glad to have Hades there with me. I didn't just lose a mother that day when the plague was cured. Hades lost the woman he once loved. He had a right to be here, he had a right to mourn with me. Even if Hades' version of mourning was bearing a stoic expression as he patted me on the back to comfort me.

"You wanna see her again before she leaves?" he asked me.

"Please." I sniffed as I nodded.

Hades then teleported us back to the Underworld, where he turned himself back to his normal god self. The imps came up and gave me comforting hugs and apologized for my loss, but the real heart breaker was seeing my mother's soul standing before me. She seemed happier now that she was dead and no longer hurting. I then approached her slowly as more tears ran down my face. I really didn't want to let her go.

"I'm gonna miss you." I cried as I hugged her.

"I'll miss you too." Mom told me as she wiped away my tears with her thumb.

Mom then turned her attention over to Hades, who looked like he wasn't doing so hot either. Especially since he was saying goodbye to his ex for the last time.

"Take care of her for me, okay?" she asked him with a warm smile.

Hades nodded as he put a hand on my shoulder in assurance. "She's in good hands."

"Aria, I want you to listen to me: I love you, and I'll always be with you." Mom told me with a soft smile. "No matter where you go, or what you'll become, I'm always gonna be there."

"I love you, too, Mom." I said those words for the last time.

And the next thing I knew, Mom's hold on my hand slowly drifted apart and she joined the other souls in the River Styx. Heading for Asphodel, to live happily for eternity. While I stayed back on the shore, still alive, but no longer the same. I fell to my knees and immediately started crying again. The only people comforting me where the imps and Hades as we watched Mom's soul drift away from us; As her soul drifted away from me.

This was the worst week of my entire life. And I blamed myself for it all.