In the style of Emily Zhang and Mars

"Well you're in pretty bad shape," said a voice Emily hadn't heard in a while. She sat up on her hospital bed, leaning onto her elbows.

"God of War?" She asked in a whisper. No freaking way he was here now. Talk about bad timing.

Oh shoot, that meant that Mars was definitely around.

He drew himself out of darkness, and leaned onto the foot of her hospital bed.

"The one and only," Mars said.

"Actually I can name ten off the top of my head." Emily said sitting up- or sitting up as best as she could. "Bellona, The Morrigan, Mixcoatl, Chi You, Guan Yu, Athena, Horus, Odin..."

"Still sassy, I see."

"Still alive, aren't I?" She asked.

Mars grinned. "Touché, Emily Zhang. How's Frank?"

"I haven't seen him in forever," she said chewing on her lip and letting her heart squeeze a little. She had a lot more to miss now that she had her son. "He's happy though, he can find a way to be happy most of the time, and he works hard. He's a sweetheart and a clown. He's just the best kid," Emily said. "Zhang House's reputation for legacies has kept the monsters away well enough, and I've managed to keep my mother's mouth shut about the gods, though he stumbled across a bow and a quiver and has been shooting targets ever since."

Mars' tongue clucked.

"He's doing well."

Mars nodded. "You, on the other hand..."

"Yeah, I'm not so sharp. What gave it away? The hospital? The bandages? Oh- I know the evacuation from Afghanistan to Germany." Emily said.

"Sass levels are high," Mars said. "They might even bring you back to Canada, from what I understand. Mind if I have a look?"

"Be my guest," Emily said pushing her covers off. "But if a nurse comes in, you disappear and I fake a morphine hallucination. Deal?"

Mars ignored her and unwrapped the bandages around her leg.

"So what the hell happened?"

"Oh, I pushed a guy out of the way and got hit by some shrapnel." Emily said. "Not fun. The doctors here... well; they say I might lose my leg." She took a deep breath, not okay with the idea.

Mars whistled. "They aren't kidding."

"That's not helpful," Emily hissed. He touched her injury and Emily slapped his hand away.

"Do that again and I'll kill you three times." She said.

"Hey, I'm a god. Even you can't accomplish that, Emily Zhang. Speaking of which; you could beg for help."

"Funny, funny man you are. No; I won't beg. I got hurt, I'll accept whatever I get from it. What do you think I am?" She asked.

"Captain Emily Zhang," Mars said examining her leg.

"For Jupiter's sake, the lights aren't even on." Emily whispered exasperated.

"I don't need lights," he said.

"Yeah I know, because you're a freak."

He looked up at her and she could tell he was grinning, even though she wasn't a goddess (story of her life) and couldn't see in the dark.

"Back to reality though, that leg... it doesn't look good."

"Oh," Emily said. She'd been hoping the x-rays and whatnot would say something different than what the doctors thought. "That's okay. People can still function with a prosthetic right? Walk around, live on their owns, run around, skate, serve..."

"If anyone could, it'd be you." Mars said. He wrapped up her bandage. "I'll see what I can do."

"About what?"

"Your leg."

"But I didn't beg."

"Exactly." Mars said. "Sweet dreams, Zhang."

"I'm not on enough pain meds to sleep through the-"

Emily never finished her sentence, and she never felt Mars' kiss on her forehead.