Hello, readers! OOC characters in this chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


Be my friend, hold me

Wrap me up, unfold me

I am small, I'm needy

Warm me up and breathe me

-"Breathe Me" by Sia


Leo wakes up in the Infirmary, and honestly, he doesn't remember how he got there.

"Leo?" Hazel murmurs, leaning over him.

"Why am I here?" Leo mutters, squinting against the bright light shining from nearby.

Noticing Leo's attempts to block out the bright light, Hazel reaches over and dims the lamp before turning back to him.

"You just passed out," Hazel explains, "while we were training. Nico told us about your relapse, but he said you were eating better. Have you been purging?"

Leo shakes his head. "No. I've even cut down on my training."

"Hmm…" Hazel ponders, pursing her lips. "Sit still."

She takes his hand and presses two fingers to the collection of veins on his wrist. She mouths numbers, and Leo stares at her as she takes his pulse.

She frowns. "Your pulse is dangerously slow. Only thirty-eight beats per minute. It should only get that slow while you're sleeping. I know some athletes that can get their pulse that low, but you're not an athlete."

"Far from it," Leo jokes, if only to hide the fear he actually feels.

Was something wrong with his heart?


A few days and several intensive tests later, the remaining members of the seven, along with Coach Hedge and Nico, discover the reason behind Leo's slow pulse.

"Your eating disorder has had a dramatic effect on your heart," Nico explains. They are the only two in the Infirmary at this time. "Your heart has been extremely weakened, and even though you've started recovering, a few weeks of eating more and not purging isn't enough to undo the damage."

Leo swallows. "Is my heart failing?"

Nico shakes his head. "Not yet, but it will if you don't start eating properly. If you eat a small amount of ambrosia a day, it will help to strengthen your heart, but if you don't eat, any help the ambrosia can give will be undone by the damage your eating disorder is doing to your body."

Leo sighs through his nose. "So it's either eat… or die."

Nico nods. "Your life force is flickering more and more each day, Leo. If you don't let us help you, you will die. Maybe before the war is even over."

Leo had spent the majority of his life wanting to die. The eating disorder was a slow suicide, and he knew it, but that didn't make him stop because he wanted to die. He didn't have anything to live for; if he ever found something to live for, it would be gone in the blink of an eye.

But he'd finally found something to live for, something that would stay. He finally had stable ground to stand on. He had a reason to live.

And now, he is finding out that if he doesn't start eating, he will die.

Leo feels his eyes fill with tears. "I don't want to die, Nico."

Nico nods. "I know. I don't want you to die either, so please, do us both a favor… and eat."

Nico places a tray of food on Leo's lap, and Leo stares at the soup and the crackers (easy to digest foods) and nutrition drink Hazel wanted him to drink since he was deficient in almost every nutrient and vitamin and mineral he was supposed to have.

After so long of thinking food was the enemy, it might be the only thing that can save him, but that didn't make eating it any easier.

Leo smashes the crackers into the soup (it would be easier to eat them at the same time and get it all eaten faster than eating them separate and taking longer) before he scoops some onto the spoon and takes a bite.

Stop! If you keep eating, the control will be lost! All of our hard work will be gone!

Leo flinches as the Voice screams at him.

Fat! Worthless! Useless! Lazy! Weak!

Leo doesn't feel very hungry anymore. If anything, he feels nauseous.

"Leo, whatever that voice inside your head is telling you, it isn't true," Nico whispers.

Leo nods and finishes off the meal as fast as he can. Before the Voice can get another word out, Leo is finished with the meal and pushes the tray away.

Weak! You have no discipline, no self control! Stupid! WEAK!

"Nico, am I weak?" Leo murmurs.

Nico shakes his head. "No. You are bravest person I know, Leo, and I mean that. Never think that you are weak for trying to recover."

"Recovering is the bravest thing you can ever do," Leo tells him. "That's what my best friend Olivia told me before she left the eating disorder clinic we were staying at."

Nico nods. "She's not wrong, you know."

Leo isn't one to cry in front of people, but all of a sudden, it's all too much, and tears begin to stream down his face.

"I'm sorry," he mutters as Nico, in an uncharacteristic show of emotion, wraps his arms around Leo.

"Don't apologize for crying," Nico says. "Crying is probably the best thing for you right now."

"When did you get so cheesy?" Leo asks with the weakest of smiles, but at least it's a smile.

Nico shrugs. "Probably when I became your friend."

Leo laughs. "You got me there."

Nico nods. "I know. Now, get your strength back. We'll be at the Doors of Death by tomorrow, and we'll rescue Percy and Annabeth."

"What if we don't?" Leo asks.

"We will. I saw those plans in your room," Nico replies. "With plans like those, especially so many, Gaea's army won't know what hit them."


I know, it's a really short chapter, but I did warn you that most chapters in this story will be short. I'm hoping to make the chapters longer in the third and final installment in this trilogy.

Thanks for reading! Bye, everyone!