Appeal To Reason

AN: Hello everyone! Here is chapter 1, please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

Trigger warning for self-harm, it is hinted and lightly talked about.

Ch 1

~A Cadence Imperfect~

Nico

The Romans really knew how to liven up a morning, by ten am the Hermes and Mercury cabin has pulled multiple pranks on most of the cabins. To sum up the chaos Chiron had purple hair and the Demeter cabin's plants were all alive and talking, clearly,the Hecate cabin helped with that one.

"Well, I am glad all of you are well rested and I hope that everyone is ready for the friendly game tonight," Chiron spoke at the head table, Reyna was standing by his side, he did not seem too bothered by the color of his hair. It is Friday, September 23rd, the day after the fall equinox. Hazel, Jason, and Percy sat at the table with me, we gave up all but the Zeus table for other cabins to use so that they didn't have to build on too many more tables. Percy and Jason called it "big three bros plus 1" since any unclaimed demigods would be sitting with us.

"We will be doing it in four teams since we have so many people I figured we can up the challenge again." He glanced over at us and pointed "Bromance over here and Hazel will all be on separate teams, we wouldn't want you all to single-handedly win."
There was a roar of laughter and Percy pretended to faint across Jason's lap. At least Chiron had a sense of humor, though today it seems forced.

"Finally." He concluded, "The Apollo cabin will be sitting out to help those who are sick or injured, you all will stay in the infirmary but I need a few out in the field." There were only a few of the Romans that are still uneasy about the two camps friendship; they mostly kept to themselves and did not really cause issues.

"Hey, Nico," Jason said without looking at me, rather he was staring off behind me somewhere further into the mess hall. "Can you tell your boyfriend to stop staring at you, it weirds me out when he is always looking over here."

"he does stare at you a lot." Hazel said, at first she was uneasy about me not being interested in girls, but I eventually came out to her, Hades however had a much more interesting response to the topic of my sexuality.

"Dude your staring right at him." Percy said eating an apple "That probably weirds him out."

I sighed " Oh now you defend him Percy… and he is not my boyfriend. He is probably just trying to make sure I am eating."

"He has been sleeping in your cabin…"
"To help with nightmares!" I defended or tried to at least.

"Sure, from what I saw the other day in the infirmary I can only imagine what you would do in a cabin alone." Percy muttered and drank his orange juice. He winced and shot a look at Jason.

Jason added, "you too are almost always together."

I stood up to clear my plate and leave, speaking of the son of Apollo, I was supposed to get some more medicine from him earlier and have another check-up.

As I walked away I glanced over my shoulder and smiled at them "you two are just jealous." And with a wink, I got rid of the tray and gently smacked the side of Will's head.

He smiled, "I think you missed your doctor's appointment this morning."
"well then." I said, "let's go get it over with."
Most of the campers were cleaning up and filing out of the mess hall,

"Did you sleep well last night?" he asked as we walked across the green field; since hazel was sleeping in my, well our, cabin he did not join us.

I nodded "like a baby."
However, I could tell that he did not believe me; he shook his head and looked away from me. "are we going to talk about what happened the other night?"
"No."

"We should." He tried.
"No."

He opened the door to the big house and we went down to the infirmary. Will had weekly tests and check ups for me to make sure everything was going smoothly, sometimes it felt more like therapy than actual medical issues.

"Nico, lay down please." He said "you know the drill."
"will you be giving me kisses and not being able to control yourself this time?" I smirked and he pulled out some papers.

After a moment he pursed his lips and muttered "so you do want to talk about it."

"not really."
"You were the one who pulled me into the kiss Nico, what did you want me to do? Get mad and pull away from a cute boy? Heck no." he said it without looking at me, I could tell he was having a hard time trying to find something in his desk drawers.

"Where do all my pens go?" he stood up. "Nico get your shirt off and pants off by the time I get back here. I need to check on those wounds."

"My legs are fine." I lied through my teeth.
he glared at me through the door frame and said "I saw cuts on them through the rips in your jeans earlier. Don't lie to me."

Damnit! I did as he said anyway, there is no point in hiding them from him; in august he saw my thighs and was able to figure out what they were from I tried to lie but he saw right through me. He didn't judge me or hate me, he didn't try to tell me I was fucked up or insane. He just hugged me and took care of them. Unlike Percy who actually smacked me across the face and then cried, that whole scene was too confusing to deal with but I learned why and did my best to get better or at least hide it more. The curtains were open and the whole room was bright and warm.

The rest of the infirmary smelt like a hospital most of the time but the back rooms didn't, it smelled like vanilla and chamomile tea in here. Will often made me a cup of chamomile tea at night before he gave me sleeping medications. He said my body didn't produce melatonin or something and went out and got some vitamins for me, along with more because he claimed I was lacking everything, including life and love.

I think he just likes to be over dramatic.

The bed had no blankets for me to hide under, so I silently prayed no one but Will would come in.

Will came in with a cup full of Pens, and immediately started talking. "Ok have you been using your inhaler, has breathing been easier?" he dramatically sat down on his chair and wheeled it over to me doing a spin in the process.

"I don't need it."
"your lungs sound like snake rattles that have been stabbed and have a million holes in them, it's an easy way for you to get ambrosia directly into your lungs, you need to start using it." he sighed "Tartarus's air had a toxic effect on you, please try."

"fine." I muttered. His blue eyes shone with worry, if I didn't try on my own he would get over protective and force me to do it anyway, it's not like I had much of a choice. He put his hands out and I put mine on top of his, they were warm, he closed his eyes and began to whisper something in latin.
After one hour of various medical stuff he finally decided that we had enough for one day. "You can play tonight, but if you get dizzy for faint from doing that underworld-ly magic crap you sit out. Come to me if it gets too bad."

"are you going to be here or out in the woods area?" I asked while putting my pants back on, the healing rub he puts on my wounds was sticky and felt weird with jeans.

"Yes." He smiled and started to clean up the room.
I stared at him and tried to glare but I couldn't stop myself from smiling slightly at his happiness, why does he always have to radiate joy and light? How did I end up getting stuck with this pain in the ass child of Apollo?

"I will be going back and forth Nico, to make sure my siblings are doing alright. At some point I have to let go of the leash and let them do their own thing." He explained.
I smiled and out my shirt on "I would love for you to do that with me."

He walked over and sat down on the bed "No way in Hell death by. You need me."
I wish I didn't.

I was too tired to come up with any snarky remarks for him, it was warm and the bed felt comfortable.

"how about you go back to sleep? I will wake you up at lunch." He said and put his hand on my forehead. I couldn't read him, first he is telling me to sleep at night and not sleep during the day, but now he is encouraging me to take a nap.
But before I knew it sleep took over and I faded from the real world of consciousness.

Will

He slept like a cat in the sun, I wanted him to get up and go outside to participate in sports or get some exercise but he looked so tired and sad.

Over the past month he became stronger and healthier very slowly, his mood even got better, minus the extreme mood swings every now and then. His nightmares became less frequent and his skin now had a lovely olive tan. His eyes sparkled when he smiled and he would even wear a camp shirt with a long sleeve black shirt underneath. He had friends and he was alive, and that was worth all the sleepless nights and exhaustion. He was taller than me when he wasn't slouching and Piper cut his hair so he could see, but he still liked it long. Of course we still had a long way to go before he could be close to being better, physically it was not a problem but his mind was shattered and repaired and shattered again. He can and will get better but time will need to pass and I can't leave his side.

Kayla popped her head in, she was out of breath and gasping for air.
"Four more campers are sick and vomiting again, their veins seem almost black and one of them is Roman."

I wanted to punch a wall but I smiled at her and got up to help. Four more, that would mean we have 12 campers with the same illness and I can't figure out what the cure is or what is wrong with them even.

Last week was the first case of whatever this is and it only spread, no pattern most of the campers didn't even interact often and it's not sticking to any particular cabin. Fevers, nausea, vomiting and loss of consciousness; however those symptoms weren't what really worried me it was the dark veins and black or dark brown substance that is found in the vomit.

Chiron told us "just do your best and heal them, let's not worry the other campers."

But a red flag went up when I noticed one of the new arrivals was Percy Jackson, if he gets sick that will raise a lot of eyebrows and people will get interested so I went to check on him first since my siblings were with most of the others.

"How do you feel?" I asked. He looked very pale and his eyes were barely opened.

His voice was quiet "don't tell mom…"
I opened one of his eyes and shone a light in but his pupils were not reacting to it. His pulse was racing and I could tell he was having a hard time staying awake.

"Can you tell me how you…"
"Poison." He said lightly "its like T…tarturus.." his voice trailed off. "water?"

I got up and went to the back room to get some water for him, five bottles at least. Water heals the son of Poseidon. Come to think of it I rarely see him drinking it, shouldn't he have a water bottle on him at all times? Wouldn't that help.
I shook myself out of my thoughts and went back to checking on him. Slow reflexes and high fever as well as every other symptom. I cursed, this is so stupid how the hell is this happening.

He looked at the water bottles but didn't lift a finger to get them, water. Was he not asking for water? Or was he telling me that the poison is in water and that is how its spread! Nice job detective Solace. I smiled and ran to Chiron with my idea, but stopped. We don't have one set water source and the water bottles are not tampered with.
shit, there goes that idea.

What if Nico gets sick? i began to panic. None of the campers who were originally sick are better but the symptoms went mostly away.

I felt stupid and weak, I can't heal them; no magic worked on any of them. I went back to Percy who had managed to drink three water bottles. I checked his temperature 101 degrees. He ate the ambrosia and drank some nectar and told me he was going to sleep it off.
One of my siblings was one of the new sick campers which were slightly unnerving, children of Apollo rarely get sick, I know it's not impossible but still it's strange.

Chiron wheeled into the room and came straight to me. "Good afternoon."

"I'm guessing you already know the issue at hand." I said, no point in small talk our campers are sick.
He raised an eyebrow "Do you know what is causing it yet?"
"No clue, I can't even tell you what it is. Percy said something about poison in Tartarus but that wouldn't effect everyone else here." I said, Kayla and joseph were running around putting cold towels on sick campers heads.

"how is Nico?" He asked, I always admired how Chiron remembers which campers are struggling and he does try to help them.

I nodded "he is a lot better, every day his progress increases." I just wish he was happier. I thought to myself. He pats my shoulder.

"Will if it gets much worse I'm going to need you to alert the campers and try to come up with a way of preventing it." He said "but I'm sure you will find a cure, you're very good at healing, the best." I smiled at the ground, at least he appreciates me.

I snuck into the very back rooms and gathered some vitamins and medicine for Nico, Thankfully the Stoll brothers are willing to help, of course Nico did threaten them first. The son of Hades gave them money and let extra to get whatever they want.

he's not so bad. I heard them say. Sure Nico was scary when he is mad or using his powers but the rest of the time there is nothing to be afraid of.

Something smacked my butt hard, I turned to see Kayla with a towel rolled up smiling like a maniac. "Go stay with your boo, we have it in here now."

With a forced laugh I told her that he isn't mine, and she added "yet."
Siblings, can't stand them but you can't live without them.

When I went back to check on Nico He was crying and curled up in bed.