ARUNA
~•♡•~
aruna lay restlessly in her bed. she gazed up at the ceiling, studying the bronze paneling of the argo II. her arms crossed over her chest as she furrowed her eyebrows, almost like the ceiling had done something to her. her hair laid sprawled out on the pillow that suddenly seemed hard as a rock. her mattress turned to a gravel road in an instant, and aruna knew she'd not be sleeping tonight.
it only made her feel guilty. she knew she had to find nico. had to. and yet, here she was, going to the mess hall at 2:55A.M. and getting herself a cup of coffee.
she leaned against the table, her gaze settling onto the walls of camp half-blood. right now, everyone was asleep. low flames flickered in and out, and harpies paced around on patrol. aruna was kind of glad she wasn't there now; no patrol to stop her.
stop her from doing what, exactly? she didn't know. her mind was in an empty state between boredom and apathy. she wanted to do something. something to stimulate her mind. but she didn't want to draw. she hadn't been able to get his facial features right, and it had been getting on her nerves for hours now. she always hated that about drawing him. she could never quite captivate him fully.
she didn't want to go above deck. she would only feel more alone. she'd feel cold despite it being a warm summer night. she didn't want to feel like that. not now, of course. she'd been coming so close to feeling okay, but it felt like in a mere two days, everything had crashed and burned. her mind was a mirror she'd finally pieced together, and just like that, it shattered.
"long night?"
aruna felt so startled, she jumped slightly. she'd been wrapped up in her own mind for so long, she hadn't even noticed the son of hephaestus wandering into the mess hall, his hair toussled and eyes tired. he still managed a shit-eating grin as he shoved his hands in his pockets and wandered over to aruna. he was still wearing dirty work clothes and looked like he had accidentally fallen asleep.
"why are you up?" aruna asked, keeping her voice low.
leo yawned and shrugged as he stopped a few feet away. "i was working on some blueprints, and accidentally lost track of time and passed out for like, ten minutes."
"you should go back to bed." aruna shook her head and took another sip of coffee. "you gotta stop overworking yourself."
"nah, i got duct tape and breath mints." leo smiled.
aruna smirked. "and i got a shield." she replied as she nodded over to him. she couldn't believe her first demigod quest had only been six months ago. it already felt like six years.
leo parked himself next to her. aruna extended her coffee to him, and he took a small sip. he passed it back, seemingly pleased with the taste.
"six months." he said softly.
aruna nodded and sighed. "yup. six whole months of bullshit."
"well, it wasn't all bullshit."
"like when a giant scorpion pierced me and i died?" aruna snorted.
"well." leo snorted as he bit back what seemed to be a laugh. "maybe not that. but, y'know. our little late-night excursions."
YOU ARE READING
safe || leo valdez x oc
Fanfiction"if there's no one beside you when your soul embarks, then i will follow you into the dark." in which two broken demigods repair the other. (heroes of olympus) ~•♡•~ CONTENT WARNING BEWARE includes themes of sexual abuse, murder, suicide, blood, fig...
