DAISY WASN'T CRYING. She wasn't—she just had a knot in her chest that hurt like hell, and her hands were shaking so badly she could barely use them, and there was a horrible, horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her jaw was clenched, her eyeballs hurt, and she couldn't breathe. But her face was dry. She supposed the panic was suppressing the tears. Or maybe it was the shock. Maybe it was the sense of purpose she got when Simmons handed her a rag of some sort and told her to put pressure on the wound. Maybe it was the stark color difference between her fingers and the blood that welled up through them.

"We need to get him back to base, now!" Coulson's order somehow made it through the ringing in her ears. Or was it cotton?

"Sir, I need the bandages. Where are the bandages?" Simmons sounded as panicked as Daisy felt, but her hands were steady as ever as she unwound the roll May had tossed her.

         Fitz dropped to his knees next to Daisy and took the end of the bandage, holding it in place tightly enough to make his fingers turn white. "Keep the pressure on," he instructed her without explanation.

          Daisy's eyes flitted to May, positioned under Mack's shoulders, and she understood. She saw rather than heard the count of three leave May's mouth, and when Mack's torso was lifted off the ground, she didn't ease up until the last second. FitzSimmons handed the bandage under, over, under, over, until it was used up entirely. Even then, a spot of red was sleeping through the layers.

          "Come on, quickly, up!" Simmons ordered, and Coulson and May each draped one of Mack's arms over their shoulders. Fitz ran ahead—probably to open the doors and prep the med bay for them. Similarly, one of Annabeth's arms clung to Percy as he helped her walk, her newly bandaged leg proving useless. The two were pretty beat up, but not as badly as Mack. They'd be okay.

          The trip back was uneventful but terrifying. Daisy had to switch with Coulson halfway through—his cybernetic arm was no help. Mack bled through most of the bandaging. His head lolled to the side and she thought maybe he wasn't breathing, but he was. She could just barely feel it. Annabeth turned white as the snow. She said she was fine, but any further and she would have had to be carried.

          Mack didn't start dripping until they got back to the first clearing. The blood soaked through his clothes and she could feel it seeping into hers. When it hit the snow, it bounced.

It took forever and no time at all to get to the Playground. The doors opened just as they were in reach, and Fitz ran a stretcher out to meet them. It took four of them and Percy to hoist Mack onto it. He was even heavier than he looked, and he wasn't conscious to help.

          Then they were running. Running down the hallway, pushing the stretcher as fast as they could. A small concern that they might crash flitted through Daisy's mind, but it was gone as soon as it came. That was the least of their problems. She focused on her breathing—in, out, in, out, in, out—but there was nothing she could do to steady her heart. She lost track of the teenagers—they were behind the group, somewhere, maybe because of the girl's leg, but Daisy didn't care about them right now. Right now, her partner was being hooked up to all sorts of medical doohickeys, the heart monitor was freaking out, and he seemed for all the world like he was dying.

She wasn't a doctor. There was nothing she could do except stand there, panicking, waiting for Simmons to bark an order at her. But she didn't. Her movements were frantic, but her hands were steady as she darted around Mack, doing her best to stabilize him and ignoring everyone around her.

Daisy barely registered the teenagers when they walked in, barely glanced their way when Percy lowered Annabeth into a spare chair. But she noticed when they started talking to each other in hushed tones, eyeing Mack with suspicion. They looked like they were having a debate, albeit a very quiet one. She couldn't hear them. Was it because of all the noise? Or was she just incapable of paying attention? She couldn't tell. She was staring at the blood on her hands. How was she going to get it off?

          It was then that Mack seized. His back arched, lifting him as far off of the stretcher as it was physically possible for him to go. His eyelids were halfway closed, exposing the whites of his eyes as they rolled up into his head. His whole body shook. The already racing heart monitor sped up even more.

And then, Annabeth leapt up from her seat towards him despite her leg, brandishing her dagger.

          Daisy didn't think. She didn't have to. She slammed into the teenager with all the force she had in her, trapping her in a bear hug. "What the hell?" she screamed into her ear. "You're gonna kill him? Now?"

          "You don't understand!" Annabeth yelled. "He's dying! I'm trying to help!" She squirmed some more, and Daisy had to spit some hair out of her mouth. "I just need to see!"

          Daisy let go and pushed her backwards. "See what, exactly?" She could hear the commotion behind her, but she couldn't listen to it, not now.

          Instead of answering, Annabeth charged. She caught Daisy off guard—slipped right through her fingers and slashed the first thing she could reach. Mack's calf.

          Daisy was only seeing red. For all she knew, Mack was dying. And she'd just cut him.

          BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—

          "Percy!" the girl shouted. Without hesitation, he tossed her something small. She caught it, pushing her way closer to Mack, shouting, "Move!" with all the force of a commanding officer.

          Daisy almost caught her arm to pull her back, but she was too slow. "Stop!"

          Annabeth got up to him and shoved whatever she had into his mouth. She whirled around as Daisy grabbed her shoulder, but instead of pushing her away, she pulled her to take her place next to Mack. "Start his heart, now!"

          Daisy was too shocked to do anything but comply. She placed her hands over his ribcage and sent out a wave. It made a dull bump as it hit him square in the chest. The heart monitor didn't stop its shrieking. Bump. Blood coated her hands, dry and nestled into the tiniest cracks of her skin. Bump. Under her fingernails. Bump.

It wasn't working. Daisy gave up on her powers and resorted to her fists instead. She brought both of them down, hard. The dull pain of impact shot up her arms, but she persisted. She lifted them over her head and struck again.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Daisy let out a sob, collapsing. Her partner was alive. For now.

★

Annabeth winced as Jemma administered the final stitch to the deep gash in her thigh. She was perched atop a counter in one of the base's medical rooms, probably staining the tile pink. She'd already taken her ambrosia, so she figured it should take a maximum of two days to be nothing but a scar, but she could be off. She said a soft "thank you" to the biochemist, who nodded solemnly in acknowledgement and left to see to Mack. Percy took her place, armed with some sort of antibiotic ointment and an ACE bandage. He started on it wordlessly, concentrating on wrapping it so that the pressure was evenly distributed. Only when he was finished did he look up at her.

          His eyebrows were knit together, as if someone had pulled a drawstring between them. His eyes had almost a murky quality, like the ocean in northern Maine, instead of their usual clear Miami Beach green. She noticed they tended to do that when he was troubled. Which was pretty obvious. If he wasn't troubled after all that had happened in one day, she'd be concerned. Like, really concerned. But he looked like there was more bothering him.

          "What is it?" she asked in a whisper. They were fairly alone, but still. She patted the counter next to her, and he obediently climbed up to sit, leaning against the wall.

          "It's just. . ." he pursed his lips. "I was thinking about how. . .you know. The prophecy. We really took a chance there, Wise Girl. What if. . ." he trailed off, instead busying himself by wiping her blood off his hands with an antiseptic towel.

          "He was flatlining, Perce," she said softly, taking one of his hands in both of hers. "What else could we have done?"

          He took his hand back, and Annabeth couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. "I mean. . .a painful death to be his fate. What if we. . .what if we sealed it?" He wouldn't meet her eyes.

          Annabeth bit her lip. "Are you saying that we condemned him by saving his life? That we shouldn't have saved him in case his fate is worse?"

          He closed his eyes and swallowed, his body language radiating shame.

         "Seaweed brain. . ." she put a hand on his shoulder. "You of all people know how misleading prophecies are. It's best not to think about it too hard, but who says this time it won't be different?" His gaze was glued to the floor. She lifted his chin. "Hey, look at me. We did the right thing."

          Tears swam in his eyes, threatening to spill over. His voice was quiet as he choked out, "I don't want them to die because of me."

          Annabeth's heart ached, but she moved her hand from his chin to his cheek. "They won't, Percy. It sounds to me like their world is almost as crazy as ours. They're used to this stuff."

          Percy nodded, sniffling. Then he gave her a side-eye and said, "How did you know? That the ambrosia would work, I mean."

          "It was mostly a guess," she admitted. "But Coulson, Daisy, and Mack all could see the gryphons. And they all had band-aids. Mack's was on his forearm." She took his hand again, and this time, he squeezed it. "I figured they'd been playing around with my dagger."

          Percy rubbed his face tiredly. "So you think that Coulson and Daisy are demigods, too?"

          "I don't think so," she said slowly, trying to piece it together herself. "From what they told us, the two of them are kind of, like. . ." She struggled for the right word. "Aliens? With the TAHITI thing. And that alien was from their Chitauri invasion, which was also the Titan War. . ." she trailed off. "I don't know. They might be part alien. Or they might have some sort of godly blood. But whatever it is. . .it's not enough to make them demigods. It's just enough to keep them alive."

          Percy nodded, looking confused. "Okay, yeah, that sorta makes sense."

          Annabeth sighed. "Whatever. It's really confusing. I can't think about it for too long." She brought their clasped hands up to her mouth and kissed the back of his hand absentmindedly. "But all this means the prophecy is already coming true. It's definitely him. Hidden son, born of ash and fire, brought back from the funeral pyre. That just happened."

Percy blinked, his eyes widening. "Holy crap. To winter's bite he will succumb. It's winter here still. Gryphons thrive in cold habitats. It was right there. If we had paid more attention. . .we could have avoided it. It wouldn't have come true if we hadn't. . ." He clenched his fist.

"It's in the past, Percy. We couldn't have known two hours ago, and there's nothing we can do about it now." She rested her head on his shoulder.

Annabeth wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but it was a while. So long that when Daisy floated in, looking like she was in a trance, it felt like they'd been alone for years. Annabeth immediately picked up on how the other girl felt—she was giving off waves of uneasiness and moved like a robot. She stopped in the middle of the room, staring down at the blood caking her hands.

Annabeth gently removed herself from under Percy's arm. He'd fallen asleep at some point, and she didn't want to wake him. She slipped down from the counter, approaching Daisy slowly. The girl seemed to see right past her. Her gaze was a bit cross-eyed, as if she wasn't really looking at anything. "Hey," Annabeth said softly. "Why don't we sit you down?" She took one of Daisy's arms and led her over to a row of cots on the other side of the room.

She didn't protest. Annabeth herded her onto the edge of one of them, and she sat, but her eyes stayed glued to her hands. Annabeth took them in her own and inspected them. It looked like Daisy had tried to clean them, but in her current state of shock, she hadn't done very well. There was still blood encrusted in the cracks, from her fingertips to partway up her forearms. "Let's get that off," she suggested.

Daisy stirred a little. "Um. . .yeah. Yeah, okay." She still didn't look up.

Annabeth got up to fetch the antiseptic wipes Percy had used earlier and got to work on Daisy's hands. She remembered being like this. It was the first time she'd actually witnessed a death. Thalia's was different, since she was turned into a tree. She'd been at camp a few months. She'd just turned eight. One of her friends from the Demeter cabin had a run-in with something in the woods. That was the first time there'd been blood. The first time there'd been a body.

"What did you give him?" Daisy asked meekly.

Annabeth told her everything. Mostly.

𝚫

so i just realized it's been almost a year since i posted chapter 6 cus it's almost the 4th of july again but not yet :) here's this chapter where MUCH IS REVEALED (dun dun dunnnn). anyways THANK YOU for being so very patient and i am going to try my VERY HARDEST to get another chapter out before the 4th so :) yeah
also!! i've been done with school since june 14th and it's absolutely magical, 10/10
i've been virtually absent because I've been binging supernatural for the past two months, so my question for y'all today is: DO Y'ALL WATCH SUPERNATURAL?!?!
its so wonderful and im in love with all the characters

adios amigos,
cajoling
6/20/18