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𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎'𝐒 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐔𝐋.
it was a pale green, a little lighter than his eyes, and embroidered with white designs. next to his was leo's which was a deep red, with white embroidery.
neither of them had been found over the days after the battle, nor had any scraps of festus. remains of the argo ii, and the brackets that had held festus in place inside the ship were recovered by the hephaestus cabin.
octavian would be remembered by hurling himself as a sacrifice to save new rome, but in reality, leo and theo were the heroes of the battle.
grover sat on one side of me, rubbing my back.
i didn't cry.
which was a little weird, because i cried a lot in general. aurora was inconsolable, weeping as ethan held her back, whispering to her and trying to calm her down.
the scene reminded me of cayden's funeral, and me and theo holding her back when his shroud had been burnt. she wasn't one for loud emotions besides anger, not unless one of us were involved.
nico muttered the final blessings over the shrouds, the flames reaching high and disappearing in the night sky.
after the funeral, hazel and frank asked to meet all of us at the big house.
percy put his arm around me, leading me away from nosy demigods. i tried to tell him i was alright, but i don't think he believed me.
"we should've been there in the end," jason muttered, his head hung low. "we could've helped them."
"all that work getting the physician's cure, and for what?" piper muttered. "nothing."
i stared at hazel, who broke down in sobs. nico patted her back, trying to comfort her.
"you never had the cure, piper," i told her, the story pieces finally together and confirmed in my head.
"what?"
"ever since ogygia, theo'd been off," i reminded her. "he told me it was like leaving his soul behind. and i have no idea what myth it's based off of, but i know his and calypso's soul have some sort of connection. some sort of bond. he made an oath, to go back and save calypso — an oath to keep with the final breath. and when he told leo—"
"leo'd never let him go through with it alone," percy shook his head, more so in realization than anything.
"i'm sure they argued or whatever, but leo decided to tag along," i said. i turned to frank and hazel, "that's why they asked you two to go delos with them."
it wasn't a question, but they nodded anyways.
they explained how leo had told them about destroying gaia in a fiery explosion. theo's magic was originally supposed to get leo to safety, but not theo. leo refused, saying if theo went down, so did he. and so they began to rebuild festus, making their plans.
"if anyone was around..." frank trailed off, crying.
"they would've been blown to smithereens," i finished. "it's the exact twisted, noble thing they'd do."
"you knew?" annabeth asked. "how?"
"i didn't know," i told her. "i started piecing it together a day or two before the battle, but i don't know if i didn't want to believe it, or if i just didn't piece it together in time."
"there's nothing you could've done," percy reminded me. "theo's a stubborn little shit — your brother. and the two of you have trained leo to be the same thing. there was no convincing them otherwise."
the group nodded, doing their best to reassure each other that it wasn't the others fault. but i could sense the underlying guilt. the way everyone blamed themselves for leo and theo's death.
"i'd strangle him if he was here right now," piper laughed tearily. "how the hell were they planning on taking the cure without anyone else?"
i looked to the sky, imagining some sort of mechanism or lever or weird spell theo had created injecting them with the syringe. honestly, i don't think i was far off from what probably happened.
"it's leo valdez and theo badeaux," i reminded them. "they had a plan."
𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄.
REY WRITES!
thanks for reading!! special thanks to everyone who's been here from the start, and those who've joined along the way
![𝙩𝙪 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨 - p. jackson [₂]](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/279543386-64-k642630.jpg)