The Plea of Apollo || COMPLETED

MORNING SICKNESS

The Seven were waiting in the main park of New Rome for their weekly get-together. After so many of them getting married, worry that they would drift apart between everything going on in their lives, they agreed to meet up for lunch every Sunday since they were all free that day. It meant they would always start off the week on a good note. Reyna, Tucker, and Calypso were there as well, Leo and Calypso visiting from Camp Half-blood this weekend to talk to the children of Vulcan. The duo was having technical problems trying to get the monster-resistant cellphones to function correctly (they had ended up allowing a couple of minor monsters into camp because of this) and wanted some input on what they could do to block a moving signal from monsters. While the two visitors shared what they had been up to, Hazel found herself scanning the park worriedly.

"What's wrong?" Frank asked her quietly as Leo made a joke about the monster he accidentally summoned not being able to stand the heat of his hotness.

Hazel whispered back, eyebrows knitting up in concern. "Reyna and Tucker said they would be here soon, but it's been ten minutes already. Shadow traveling takes seconds. I'm worried if something is wrong."

Frank put a comforting arm around his wife, whose lips curved upwards at the action. "I'm sure Nico and Will are fine. If they aren't here in the next five minutes you can go shadow travel them down."

She wouldn't have to though, because no less than a minute later she noticed the familiar faces of her brother and Will Solace appear near the entrance of the park.

"See, what did I tell you?" Frank said with a smile. "They're fine."

However, his statement was only half true. While the son of Apollo was feeling great, there was something very wrong with the son of Hades.

"Nico," Will complained as they walked past the entrance gates of the park and made towards their friends. "You aren't feeling well. Don't push yourself into going to lunch when you should be resting whatever this is off."

He was currently following his boyfriend, a frown plain on the healer's usually cheerful face, trying to talk the stubborn demigod walking ahead of him into going back to his apartment. He had already been worried when Nico told Tucker and Reyna to go on without them that morning because he needed to IM his father. What a big fat lie that had been. No, Nico had quietly told Will after the couple departed that he couldn't shadow travel. Something was interfering with his control over the shadows.

"I'm fine!" Nico retorted with an edge to his voice. Of course he wasn't fine; he couldn't control his element and that was something that had never happened before. On the other hand, he wasn't about to tell Will what he knew about what was going on. He couldn't be allowed to know this was probably part of his father's "test". It would ruin everything.

Still, the child of Hades was not feeling good at all and it was only expected that his friends would notice this right away.

"Nico?" Reyna questioned as he and Will sat down on the open space between her and Hazel.

He tried to hide his misery, but to his horror it was fairly obvious when his voice came out strained. "Yeah?"

"You don't look so good."

"She's right," Jason added as the group looked Nico over. "You're paler than normal, and I can tell by the way your arm is positioned that you're protecting your stomach. Are you feeling nauseous or something?"

Will glared at his boyfriend, arms crossed smugly. "I told you they would notice that you're sick. Guys, tell him he needs to go back to his apartment and rest."

"It's just a stomach ache!" Nico stressed, his arms flailing in the air as he gestured to show his frustration. This only caused him to groan though, a spasm of pain flaring up somewhere near the lower region of his stomach. "A very painful one," he admitted sadly, "but that is it. Resting won't do anything."