DAYLIGHT ↬ leo valdez x reader

27. but its golden like daylight

"Valdez!" called Wolf Head in a warbling voice. "You will die for this!"
"Yeah," Leo called out. "Who's possessing who now, Casper?" The machine men tumbled down the stairs. Their joints began smoking. The other spheres around the room began to pop. Too much energy was surging through the ancient system.
"Guys!" Leo shouted. "Take cover!"
The two were still dazed, staring in amazement at the jitterbugging metal guys, but they got his warning. Frank pulled Hazel under the nearest table and shielded her with his body. I slipped in beside them (third wheeling in a life or death situation??) and raised my hands to protect myself. It wasn't really going to do anything, but it felt safer just doing so.

Everything was suddenly quiet except for a few random sparks and sizzles. The air smelled like burning car engines. Leo raced down to us and grinned at the sight of us hiding under the table.
"You're alive!" he said.
Hazel's left eye twitched, maybe from the Taser shock. Otherwise she looked okay. "Uh, what exactly happened?"
"Archimedes came through!" Leo said. "Just enough power left in those old machines for one final show. Once I had the access code, it was easy." He patted the control sphere, which was steaming in a bad way.
"The eidolons," Frank said. "Are they gone?"
Leo grinned even wider. "My last command overloaded their kill switches—basically locked down all their circuits and melted their cores."
"I'm too concussed for this." I sighed, sliding out from under the table.
"In English?" Frank asked.

"I trapped the eidolons inside the wiring," Leo said. "Then I melted them. They won't be bothering anyone again."
"You saved us," Frank said.
"Don't sound so surprised." Leo glanced around the destroyed workshop. "Too bad all this stuff got wrecked, but at least I salvaged the scrolls. If I can get them back to Camp Half-Blood, maybe I can learn how to recreate Archimedes's inventions."
Hazel rubbed the side of her head. "But I don't understand. Where is Nico? That tunnel was supposed to lead us to Nico."

"Oh." Leo said. "Hazel, how exactly were you tracking Nico? I mean, could you just sense him nearby because he was your brother?"
She frowned, still looking a bit wobbly from her electric shock treatment. "Not—not totally. Sometimes I can tell when he's close, but, like I said, Rome is so confusing, so much interference because of all the tunnels and caves—"
"You tracked him with your metal-finding senses," Leo guessed. "His sword?"
She blinked. "How did you know?"
"You'd better come here." He led us up to the control room and pointed to the black sword.

"Oh. Oh, no." Hazel would've collapsed if Frank hadn't caught her. "But that's impossible! Nico's sword was with him in the bronze jar. Percy saw it in his dream!"
"Either the dream was wrong," Leo said, "or the giants moved the sword here as a decoy."
"So this was a trap," Frank said. "We were lured here."
"But why?" Hazel cried. "Where's my brother?"
A hissing sound filled the control booth. I was ready to be knocked out again, but it was a bronze mirror hissing, not the spirits.

Ah, my poor demigods. I froze. This was the voice I heard before. In the mirror was the sleeping, almost peaceful face of a woman. She was beautiful, with hair as dark as soil and a stern look on her face. Her appearance mimicked what Mother Earth's would.. Oh.
You had your choice, Gaea said. Her voice echoed through the room. It seemed to be coming not just from the mirror, but from the stone walls as well.
I offered salvation to all of you, Gaea said. You could have turned back. Now it is too late. You've come to the ancient lands where I am strongest—where I will wake.

Leo pulled a hammer from his tool belt. He whacked the mirror. Being metal, it just quivered like a tea tray. "In case you haven't noticed, Dirt Face," he said, "your little ambush failed. Your three eidolons got melted in bronze, and we're fine."
Gaea laughed softly. Oh, my sweet Leo. You four have been separated from your friends. That was the whole point. The workshop door slammed shut. You are trapped in my embrace, Gaea said. Meanwhile, Annabeth Chase faces her death alone, terrified and crippled, at the hands of her mother's greatest enemy.

The image in the mirror changed. Annabeth was now sprawled on the floor of a dark cavern, holding up her bronze knife as if warding off a monster. Her face was gaunt. Her leg was wrapped up in some sort of splint.
The others, Gaea said, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, and my dear friend Percy Jackson—they will perish within minutes.
The scene changed again. Percy was holding Riptide, leading Jason and Piper down a spiral staircase into the darkness.
Their powers will betray them, Gaea said. They will die in their own elements. I almost hoped they would survive. They would have made a better sacrifice. But alas, Hazel and Frank, you will have to do. My minions will collect you shortly and bring you to the ancient place. Your blood will awaken me at last.

And Y/N. Her voice was more passionate now. It was powerful yet gentler. You are a ruse of the prophecy. You were not sent to prevent the greatest war. You cannot change what is happening. Everything went still. You haven't been in danger, daughter of G/P, for you are more powerful than you can imagine. I have faith in you. We could make use of you.
Leo, Hazel and Frank all gave me glances that were almost disgusted, uncomfortable. It felt like they hated me. I opened my mouth to protest, but nothing came out.
I will allow you to watch your friends perish. Please...enjoy this last glimpse of your failed quest.

Leo's hand glowed white hot. Hazel and Frank scrambled back as he pressed his palm against the mirror and melted it into a puddle of bronze goo. I just stood there, unable to speak. The voice of Gaea went silent.
He took a shaky breath. "Sorry," he told his friends. "She was getting annoying." Leo scanned the workshop, now littered with smoking pieces of broken spheres. His eyes landed on me and paused. It's like we had a conversation with only our pupils.
We're going to be okay. We'll figure this out. He said with his brown irises.
They don't want to kill me. Why?
Like I said, we'll figure this out.

"What do we do?" Frank asked.
"We have to get out and help the others." I exhaled shakily.
"I've got an idea," he said. "But it's going to take all four of us."