Breaking Point

Sick

Percy had really only said he would go see Will to get them off his back, but now he was starting to think it was probably a good idea. In fact, he probably would have gone to him sooner if the circumstances were different. Percy didn't really want to go to him and bother him just because his stomach was a little upset.

Now that he was actually throwing up, though, he decided he couldn't put it off any longer. It was starting to become a problem, especially where his appetite was concerned. He had no choice but to bother him with it at this point.

"Do you feel nauseated now?" Will asked him seriously, as he took his blood pressure.

If what Percy had was a noraml demigod injury, Will would have healed it by now. But he had to use mortals medical method on Percy because... well, throwing up and getting sick.... It wasn't normal for a demigod. Will tried not to let that fact enter his mind. He silently thanked Apollo for giving them mortal medical knowledge too.

"Not really," Percy replied, "I mean, my stomach's kind of churning a bit, but it's been like that for a few weeks."

"A few weeks?!" Will said incredulously, "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because I thought it was just from stress," Percy shrugged, "And from...guilt over what happened with..."

"Percy," Will said softly, "Leo's death was not your fault."

Percy sighed and looked down at his knees, his long legs dangling from the examination table he was sitting on.

"My point is," he continued after a moment, "I didn't think there was anything physically wrong with me. Now that I'm actually throwing up, though..."

"And this started right after you got back from.... Tartarus?" Will frowned.

Percy nodded, and Will looked thoughtfully at him for a moment.

"There is a chance you picked something up when you fell there," she said slowly, "Maybe the bacteria there is different or you caught a virus of some sort."

"That's what I thought," Percy nodded.

"That makes sense, I guess," Will said slowly, "But no one else who went to Tartarus is sick, Percy. Not Nico, not Annabeth. You are one of the child of the big three, Percy, Nico aside, your immune system should be a lot stronger than theirs."

"Maybe that's just it, though," Percy said slowly, thinking outloud, "The Spanish Influenza in the early 1900s killed mostly young, healthy males. It was because their immune systems were stronger and they had a more intense inflammatory response in their lungs, which ended up killing them. Sometimes, a strong immune system can work against you."

Will's eyes widened."When the immune system is so effective, it starts attacking the body along with the virus. Hades. Annabeth is rubbing off on you, Percy" he said, seriously, while joking at the same time.

"I know" Percy nodded, a small smile on his face.

"I'm going to take a blood sample," Will said suddenly, the feverish look back on his face. "And I'll have to swab the back of your throat. I'm going to see if you have some sort of infection."

Percy nodded and held out his arm. He sat silently as Will took all the samples he needed, which was so unlike him. However, he didn't just sit there and watch while he started analyzing them. He decided to help, pulling out a second microscope to look at his bood sample, himself, as Will analyzed the throat culture he had gotten from him.