Why You Should Never Mess With Cupid {𝔓𝔧𝔬 𝔉𝔞𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔠}

일

The moment he struck his first giant, everything became a blur of motions, he swiped and he kicked all that touched him, friend or foe he cared not, all who harmed him, were foe in his eyes anyway, he ran forward the shadows following him waiting for the moment he’d let them take hold of him, after what felt like years, but might have only been hours, he finally fell, a cough ripping from him, and the petals flowing like water from his lips was all he saw before he finally let the darkness reach for him.

When he finally woke up, he was on a bed in where he recognized as his cabin, or at least was what left of it, he tried to raise himself, but a body blocked his ascend, and that was when he noticed he was not alone in his room, around him was Percy, Annabeth, Reyna, Will, his sister, and the body behind him that he didn’t know who possessed. His sister was perched on his right side, her hands in his, tear lines visible, her golden eyes looking more like a sick yellow than the shimmering color that he was so fond of, her hair unbrushed, she looked nothing like the girl he once knew.

‘‘H-How long’’ his voice came out rough, unused for a long time, and yet his throat was sore, a sign of overexertion, he filled that tad bit of information for later.

‘‘A month’’ It was Will that answered, seeming like the only person that wasn’t in some form of perpetual shock.

That was when he finally shook off the hand that was on his shoulders and he rose from where he was laid, his back supported by pillows that were placed by whoever or whatever was behind him.

‘‘A-A month?’’ he gasped out, ‘‘why didn’t anyone wake me? why would you let me sleep that long, what if my father needed me? did you know the damage the war did to the underworld? I have to go… no wait this is my cabin, you have to leave, I need to be on my way’’

That seemed to snap the rest from whatever trance they were previously held in, for it was his sister that spoke next, her voice low and cracked, ''Did you know?'' that was all she said, her eyes downcast, her hands tightening the hold they had on his like she was scared he'd let go and she'd never see him again, and maybe in another life that was true, but not this one, not the one where she was all he truly had.

‘‘Know what?’’ the confusion he felt was prominent, he couldn’t even fathom knowing something important enough to create such an expression from his usually peppy sibling.

‘‘Did you know you were going to die?’’ she asked, her eyes meeting his once again, her voice still as soft as it was when she started, but a hard edge could be seen slowly creeping into her tone.

He tried to smile at her, but the flinch and grimace he was met with told him it didn't work, he sighed ''We all knew we were going to die, the moment we stepped into that field we knew our lives were at the hands of the fates’’ he tried to make himself comfortable, not even caring if the person behind him would fall or not, he tried to snuggle closer to the source of heat, but he was stopped by Hazel nails digging into his palm, her jaw sett in a hard grimace, when she spoke once again, all signs of softness was long forgotten.

‘‘That is not what I mean and you know it, did you or didn’t you know you were dying of a disease before you stepped into the field to battle against Gaea?’’

His eyes flashed and he turned to look at the child of Apollo, currently looking at him with pity, the discomfort he felt both from his sister's (oh how much it still sends chills to his spine anytime he even thinks about the fact that he was no longer alone, that he had a sister) nail and his lungs long forgotten, all replaced by anger and the pain of betrayal, ‘‘You t-told them?’’ the words could hardly slip from his lips, the exhaustion creeping back in, but his anger pushing it back held firm, and his eyes wavering only a little, he flinched back a little.

''So you did'' The disappointment and sadness that clouded the words would have ripped at his heart and what was left of his lungs if he was paying it any kind of mind, but he wasn't, his mind was only filled with the blond-haired child of the twin of the goddess that had tried and partially succeeded in taking his sister away from him.

''How could you? what happened to doctor-patient confidentiality, or those that not apply to children of the underworld? are we not considered patient, too dirty to give an iota of respect is it’’ the flinch he got in return, satisfied him for just a moment, before the guilt came crashing down even heavier than he thought, the boy had been nothing but kind to him, so what if he had no regards about his privacy, very few did in the first place, he might have thought there was no issue since no one cared why should he, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breathe feeling the invisible ropes wrapped tighter as his lungs constrict, leaving little space for exhaling and pain in its wake.

‘‘I'm sorry, that was uncalled for’’ he mumbled, eyes still shut tight, now more than ever so they'd not see the liquid that was fighting to escape.

‘‘He didn’t tell us anything, we saw it all happen, we saw you rise up a few minutes after you slept, at first we thought you had woken up, I-we we’re all so happy, you scared us when you just collapsed, really you did, I couldn’t feel you for a moment, but then you shot up and we thought it had all be a ruse and you were just exhausted, but then you didn’t open your eyes, you just started coughing, and you didn’t stop and we tried all we could, really, from hitting your back to trying to cover your lips, but you didn’t stop, you just kept on going and then there were all this petals falling from your lips, and you just kept on pouring them and we couldn’t do anything, he didn’t let us, told us that you’d get yourself under control, and it went on for a while, till your bed was practically filled with it, and then you just collapsed and you didn’t wake up, didn’t shake, your chest moving only slightly for oxygen, you did nothing till the next time the coughs got to you, and they kept getting worse, every time you coughed for a little bit longer, the flowers increased a smudge, and every time all we could do was watch and I tried to talk to father, but as you said the underworld was in shambles so he didn’t even listen, I tried Persephone, and she at least paid me enough mind to tell me the name of the flower the petals came from, turns out it was Peony, a flower found in Asia, we didn’t know what good that knowledge would do to us, but we found out it symbolized romance and the only people we could think of that might even stand a chance of know what was wrong with you were_’’ her rant was cut off by a hack from him, his body doubling over and his eyes rolling back every so slightly, the hold on his lungs reaching a point he’d hope it popped and simply put him out of misery, but it never happened all that happened was his mouth fulling and his spit turning into heaves and heaves of petals, sizes differing but everything else the same, but even as it fell, the cough did not stop, did not seize till it saw one, the last one, painted dark red not pink like the rest of them, he took hold of that one, only to see the red spread on his finger tips, he looked up at them fear finally shining in his eyes.

‘‘Blood?’’ that was all he said, all he could say.

There was a silence,

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This was a weird part for both me and Nico ngl, last time we both checked he was just coughing up petals, now they are saying he did it in his coma and he now puke out BLOOD???, now even I want to know what we're gonna do about this