I recognise that prologues are cheap, so I wanted to give you guys the real first chapter of the story before I went off to camp for a week or so.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in the story, nor the lyrics that will be used in epithets of later chapters. I am using pseudoscience in this chapter to avoid the burden of research and having to be medically accurate, as well as triggers.

What about Angels

Chapter I

Perhaps a Medical Explanation Would Help

We know full well there's just time

So is it wrong to dance this line?

If your heart was full of love
Could you give it up?

-Not About Angels, Birdy

"There's something you're not telling us," Piper said.

She felt like a total dick for bringing it up, and everyone in the room looked at her crookedly. Everyone had been just fine in the silence. After all, there wasn't much to say after someone announced to you that they had less than three months to live.

But Piper felt it in her gut. Something was wrong between the two. Her Aphrodite senses were tingling! There was too much tension between Reyna and Jason at the news, and it had come on too quickly, this wasn't about the day's bad news.

"No," Reyna said. "I told you everything. I told you the truth. If you want the name of the disease, it's dynamaryphagosis syndrome."

"Energy eater condition," Annabeth said, her Ancient Greek pouring out of her mouth before she could think. She was sitting at the foot of Reyna's bed.

"That's what's happening to me," Reyna said. She closed her eyes for a second and Sebastián took her hand. He sat quietly by her side, cutting a strong and comforting presence in the room. Of course, he already knew about all of this. He'd probably been with Reyna when she'd found out about this nightmare herself.

"Perhaps a medical explanation would help," Will Solace said jumping in. He was leaning against the wall, strangely comfortable in this sterile environment, as if illness was his home turf. The hospital's logo and name was embroidered on the chest pocket of his lab coat: The St-Raphael Archangel Hospital for Rare Disease.

"Please," Annabeth said thankfully. Will obliged.

"In short, Reyna's body is consuming and creating energy irregularly for reasons we don't fully understand- it could be a problem with the metabolism, a cellular mutation, something with more of a digestive nature... That particular issue in itself is very treatable in the early stages of the disease. But we're not in those stages anymore. She's at the point now where her body uses more energy than it can produce via cellular respiration and such. Unfortunately in all medical literature on the subject, that's the point of no return. Creating energy from food and water is becoming increasingly difficult for her system- she's actually losing more energy trying to create energy than she is creating in return, does that make sense? Her disease will get worst and worst until her body can't sustain itself in any other way than shutting down systems one by one."

"That's why I wanted to see everyone," Reyna said. "To tell you that there's nothing they can do."

"I'm sorry. This is an extremely rare condition, which is why it probably went undiagnosed so long," Will said, tapping his pen against his clipboard. "By extremely rare, I mean… we've had maybe five cases in the hospital's history? But we've never have a chance to study the disease because it comes so quickly and…"

"Kills quickly, too," Reyna offered.

Will inclined his head.

"It's possible that you developed it, in your case, because of the strain that a demigod's body is exposed to daily. Nico was telling me that you had some kind of energy transferring and empowerment power as well? But that's a theory, a weak one at best. Unfortunately I have nothing else to offer to explain the cause. Even if Reyna came to New York for better treatment, we can't offer it. We don't have it. But I am glad you came to my hospital; I can make sure your access to nectar and ambrosia isn't complicated, and watch your back for monsters as well. But other than that, medically the next order of business for now is palliative care and pain management. I'm sorry."

Jason swallowed hard, which Piper thought was good of him since she wanted to cry. Piper heard Hazel sniffle.

"I have rounds to do," Will said softly, ungluing himself from the wall. "I'll give you a moment."

He walked out of the hospital room and the weight of everything came crashing down now that Will's light and reassuring presence had left the room. Frank, who was present from an undisclosed military base's location via Skype, said nothing. Hazel's stillness and stoic face basically drooled I was trained by Rome not to cry when I want to. Annabeth took Reyna's hand and squeezed. Percy ran his head through his hair and rubbed circles against Annabeth's back.

Jason and Reyna were still having a starring contest. Piper was glad that Sebastián was also looking at them suspiciously, because it meant that she wasn't going crazy, he saw it too.

"The good news is that they can explain that caffeine addiction, now," Reyna said. She looked at Sebastián with a smile, and he smiled back.

He'd been teasing Reyna about the dangers and downfalls of energy drinks and coffees and espressos for months, all of which she'd been taking to try and stay awake and lucid- to counter the first of the waves of symptoms that had preceded her diagnosis. He'd been tagging her on Vegan living articles on Facebook for the longest time and had been inviting her to join pages ranging from Oprah to Peta. It had become a cute joke between the two of them, but it wasn't really funny anymore.

"I agree with Piper," Sebastián said in calculated English. "There is something you is not telling us."

"I'm not sure this is the right time to bring it up," Jason said.

"Oh, I don't think it'll be necessary at all," Reyna sliced.

"I'd much rather talk with you about it first," Jason replied just as coldly in a two can play at that game tone.

"I have nothing to say to you," Reyna said coldly.

"Clearly you should," Sebastián said. "Just say. It."

Jason and Reyna starred each other down some more.

"Children of Bellona are not inherently magic," Reyna said carefully.

"Fuck," Sebastián said. "It is more of the demigod things!"

"I'm sorry darling," Reyna apologised without taking her eyes off of Jason. "But we- children of Bellona that is… we do have certain abilities related to warfare. I can empower troops, like Will said. I've got an easier time choosing, understanding and manipulating weaponry."

"But that's not the biggest one," Jason said.

Reyna locked her jaw as if she was biting back a venomous reply.

"No. Our biggest magical asset is that we can… revive a fallen warrior," Reyna said.

"What?" Hazel asked. "Like- like raising the dead?"

"Nobody can raise the dead," Reyna said. "Not even Nico can. But Bellona allows us to undo the damage once in our entire lives. It has to be a fresh kill, they must have died courageously," Reyna said. "It's dangerous. If Bellona doesn't approve of your judgement and your choice, she might blast you out of existence right alongside your fallen friend."

"Can children of Mars and Ares do it too?" Percy asked, thinking of Clarisse shouting at thin air with Silena limp in her arms.

"No," Frank said from the computer. "We can't."

"Ares is a god of bloodshed. Mars is the god of armies. Bellona is the goddess of individual soldiers," Reyna said. "That's why she accepts to help them –help us- by giving us this power."

"Reyna did it for me," Jason blurted.

Reyna looked at him and her eyes flared for a second.

"We were fifteen," Jason said continuing. "Just turned fifteen, on a recognition mission before the legion stormed Mount Othrys, when I was killed."

"I brought you back and it was my decision," Reyna said. "It made our friendship hell for months, even after the war with Gaia. It was awkward and strained, but we've made our peace with it. You owe me nothing, I have no regrets, and it doesn't affect us. Doesn't it, Jason?"

Jason didn't answer.

"This has been a big day and there are too many people here right now," Annabeth said, squeezing Reyna's hand before standing. "I don't want to sound like we're running off, but this is exhausting for you, and Percy and I need to pick up Maggie from daycare anyways."

"Right," Percy said. "Thank you for telling us Reyna. We appreciate… knowing. We'll swing by later."

"Bring Maggie," Reyna said. "Tell her I say hello."

"Will do," Percy said. "Hazel do you want a ride?"

"Okay," Hazel said. Frank said goodbye before the laptop was closed on him, and Hazel picked up her bag, shoving the laptop in between sketchbooks and pencil cases in her bag. Hazel had decided to enroll herself in art school after her time with the legion was done, and she was living with Percy and Annabeth while suffering through the craziness and the frenzy of it.

She waved and smiled sadly.

"I'll text you," Annabeth promised, squeezing Reyna's hand before the others left.

There were four of them left in the room, but it felt to Piper like Jason and Reyna were the only two people in the world. The tension was palpable, and she and Seb were helpless and useless now.

"Stop thinking about it," Reyna said.

"I can't."

"Try harder."

"You gave me life once," Jason said. "And now you need it back."

Piper's stomach did a cartwheel in her stomach once she realised what he was getting at.

"Jason don't even," Reyna said.

"You're shutting this down so quickly, but really it would be the only rightful solution," Jason said. "You need help right now."

"Don't be ridiculous," Reyna said.

"I'm not being ridiculous Reyna," Jason said. "I'm being…"

"Is this possible?" Sebastián asked. "This demigod life-gift energy transfer thing?"

"Don't humour him!" Reyna asked.

"I am not, I just do not want you to argue for nothing." Seb said defensively.

"I agree with him," Piper stepped in. "You two are best friends. Arguing isn't what either of you want to be doing right now."

"You're right," Jason said inclining his head.

Reyna said. "They are. Don't fight me on this right now."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her entire body tensing up as if she was trying to catch her balance. She hadn't been moving at all.

They'd known Reyna had been sick for months. Even if she and Sebastián were all the way down in San Juan, she and Jason would Iris Message and text all the time. She'd been tired constantly, achy, tense, sensitive to cold, her skin had been dry, she'd been dizzy and nauseous and forgetful and disoriented… None of these things had been worrying or had really struck out as problematic until Reyna had started passing out, until she'd started to be impossible to wake up in the morning, until her legs had started shaking with effort whenever she tried standing…

That's when Sebastián had started asking Jason to tag-team with him and force Reyna to see doctor after doctor. Most of them all had the same thing to say: this heart rate is so low, is there a history of diabetes in your family, this is similar but not quite like anything we know, we'll put you on levothyroxine- wait you're already on it?

Until Reyna had one day collapsed at the grocery store. Seb had performed CPR but once they got to the hospital, there had been absolutely no sign of a heart attack, of a stroke, of anything being wrong.

Forty-eight hours later, Jason had gone to the airport to collect Seb and her. Nico had pulled some strings with Will and arranged for Reyna to come to New York at the rare disease hospital, where she was currently staying thanks to Will's diagnosis, not that his news was any good either. Jason had been shaken by it; he knew that Reyna had a habit of keeping things to herself and making things sound better than they were, but when he'd seen her leaning against Seb as they rode down the escalator to the airport's baggage carousel, to the point where she'd even let him carry her bag… They'd stayed with Jason and Piper until Reyna had been checked in here, and Jason said he had never seen her need as much help putting on socks, buttoning blouses, pulling her hair up into ponytails…

"I'm sorry," Jason said sitting down by her bedside. "Is there anything you need right now?"

"A cup of coffee and for someone to flip the television to the sports channel," Reyna said. "I'm not in the mood for this discussion."

Piper's head felt fuzzy. She looked over the hospital bed at Sebastián, who was looking from Reyna to Jason. He looked at Reyna and in his glassy gaze, Piper could see the cracks in his heart. He looked at Jason and he seemed confused, dubious even as if he wasn't sure what to think though the two had always gotten along well. When Seb and Piper's gazes crossed, Piper knew exactly what he was thinking because she, in a weird and toxic way, was thinking about the opposite.

They sat in the hospital room and watched the sports highlights of the week. It was uninteresting and unappealing to Piper, who felt queasy.

"She's asleep," Jason said while they watched the top ten referee blunders of all time.

"You should go," Sebastián said.

"Do you want us to grab you supper first?" Jason asked.

"We'll eat later," Sebastián said. "She still has her appetite for now, and I think she was in the mood for Thai. We'll see."

Jason and Piper nodded. Piper went around the bed and wrapped her arms around Sebastián.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Sebastián nodded and accepted the hug, holding Piper fiercely with a kind of craving and desperation and strength that he'd probably been holding back on since Reyna had become so… frail. It was probably the first time he'd seen Reyna like this; it was a first for Piper, anyways.

Seb and Reyna had been together for three years. After she'd retired from the air force and had spent three months bartending in San Juan trying to find her next bucket-list item away from the legion, Reyna had run into him. It was a complete chance encounter; he was at a bachelor party, she'd been serving. But they'd hit it off, and they'd snapped together like puzzle pieces. They were both veterans, both dog owners, and (not to be cheesy here) probably meant to be. In no time flat, they were living together on an enormous slice of land that Sebastián had inherited and converted. It was so random to Piper, all the animals they had and the mixture of rescue and pound and ranch they were keeping. But it was a surprisingly good fit for Reyna, much like Sebastián himself.

"Don't let him spend too much time in his head," he said quietly, nodding his head at Jason.

Even if they only rarely saw each other, Piper and Seb got along on the bases that they both dealt with the same kind of beast.

Piper nodded. She took Jason's elbow and guided him out of the room. He was lost in his own thoughts as they crossed the hospital quietly and made their way out.

But Piper knew that they weren't going to walk out of this so quietly. She could feel a fight coming on.