Love Games (Leo Valdez/ PJO Fan Fiction)

Chapter 34 - Doomsday

A/N: This is the last chapter of Love Games. The epilogue will be available soon. Before I begin writing this, I'd just like to thank you all for your patience throughout this series. Yes, I'm extremely sad to be so close to the end at this point but no, I do not plan on writing a sequel.

The point-of-views you are about to read happen during the previous chapter. 

May the Gods have mercy upon your souls.

Faye's POV

My hands tremble as I carefully place piles of clothing from the Camp Store into a small backpack. Tears gather in the corners of my reddened eyes, almost allowing gravity to pull them down. 

In the distance, Piper and Jason communicate tensely from the Aphrodite Cabin. Somehow, Drew and Aubrey didn't notice a thing. There are only so many things you can see when you're smacking gum between your lips and giggling like a five-year-old to some Hermes guys. 

I turn away from the camp, gazing beyond the boundaries. In truth, I haven't been outside of the camp in a while. Chiron rarely sent a child of Aphrodite on quests, anyway.

My ears tingle as I can almost hear the roar of a dragon, the cackle of the fire spouting out of its mouth. 

Danger waits for me outside, but I have no choice as to whether I must leave or not. This camp provided me with protection and a place that I could call my home. 

I can't live my life sheltered anymore, whether it's in the grip of the Aphrodite cabin or within Leo's arms. Now, neither stand by me as I embark on the mission I've been destined to take.

I lift my pack onto shoulders and begin to stride towards the forest. It takes all of my will power to restrain from looking back, trying to find Leo's disappointed face in crowd of animated campers. If I dare look back, then I'll go running back. I'll beg him for my forgiveness, then feel my heart break once more as he shakes his curls from his eyes and turns away from me. 

His words continue ringing, circulating through my thoughts as I try to forget them. 

Hearing his input on everything, it all made everything I had been through so much less surreal. I can't refuse anymore that I am any better than Drew or Aubrey. They've infultrated the one piece of me that has remained in tact from my father's suicide and my near breaking-point experiences-my soul.

That shriveled up substance that is caged in my heart, that's what they have created from my soul. There is no one to protect it now but myself, and it angers me that I can't wear the essence of myself on my sleeve. That person that Leo met, she may as well be dead.

That's when I hear it- the crash of heavy tree trunks onto the muddy dirt. The screams of nymphs as they whirl past me with blinding speed. Campers' shouts of confusion.

And I hear again the cackle of flames. The heat of it all reaches me, my skin feeling as if it's burning with the leaves.

I find myself frozen in my spot before the monster comes into my vision.

--

Leo's POV

"Are you okay?" My half brother, Harley's bright blue eyes peer over the metal barrier of my bunk. 

I close my fingers over the knut I'd been throwing up above my head. "Yeah," I respond, my lie obvious. At this point, I can barely speak without a quiver appearing in my voice.

Harley swiftly jumps over the bars, folding his legs into a criss-cross-applesauce position.His expression is laced with obvious concern for me. "We heard that the Hephaestus Curse is hitting you hard."