Ocean's Hero - HOO - Leo Valdez x OC

Chapter 4

"You don't have wings." I observed. Madi hit her forehead with her palm.

"LEO!" She screamed at me, "NOT THE TIME!!"

"I mean, you're cool and all. But I would've made you with wings." The dragon just stared at me like, why aren't you running in terror? It stepped forward, "NO!" Madi yelled.

"It's a trap bronze brain. They're trying to catch you." I said. But the dragon opened its mouth and blew a wall of fire at me. It was more than I ever had endured before!

"Leo! No..." I heard Madi cry, "Please! NO!!" she mumbled something. When the fire stopped I was still there, unharmed and my clothes were unharmed as well. Which I admit, is amazing because hey! I love my army jacket! And losing my pants in front of my crush would be beyond embarrassing.

"Leo? How are you?" She was blushing and crying and stuttering. I looked at her and mouthed, "Tell you later." Then turned my attention back to the dragon.

"You can't burn me." I simply stated to the creature. It cocked its head to the side. It advanced closer to me and the trap, "Stay boy. Don't come any closer!" But the dragon did not listen. It came forward and activated the trap. Which I was still standing in, so, I got caught in it partly and got covered in motor oil and tabasco sauce.

"Oh my gods!" Madi ran over next to me. So I smeared some grease on her face playfully. But got distracted in her eyes, they were a beautiful sea green. I could stare at them for hours on end. Our gazing session was rudely interrupted by the dragon who was blowing fire everywhere. I shielded Madi from the flames.

"Okay bud. You can't burn me. I'm friendly, my friend here is friendly too, but she's not fire-proof. Now stay still, or else the others will come down here with the metal cutters and acid. Is that what you want?" I told the dragon. Madi backed up a few paces and I got to work on fixing the dragon. I moved onto the head.

"What's wrong?" Madi asked when she saw my face.

"The control disk is corroded. That's why he's so confused." I explained, "I'm going to have to take this out and clean it. I can't replace it because I don't know how to build one, or fix this one." I began cleaning the disk. Madi came over and helped. She sprinkled some water from a canteen Annabeth gave her.

"You can't fix every problem alone chico." She smiled. I went to wipe off the grease from earlier but she handed me the disk before I could try.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." I replaced the disk into his brain. I hopped down and saw my hands. Madi looked at hers too. She giggled.

"Clean hands, dirty equipment," I mumbled.

"What?" Madi asked me.

"Just something my mom used to say."

"Oh. I know she was a wonderful woman."

"She was." my voice cracked, and Madi hugged me. Did I mention she's about two-three inches shorter than me? Not by a lot, but enough that she has to look slightly upwards to make eye contact.

"What should we name your dragon?" She changed the subject.

"I'm gonna call him, Festus!" I declared. She giggled. Even if she's having an awful day, I manage to make her smile. Festus bumped me onto his back, and I offered my hand to Madi. She took it and got on with me. We bounded off deeper into the woods until we came to a cliff. I hopped off, then helped Madi down.

"Where are we?" She asked aloud.

"No idea. Where are we, Festus?" Festus made creaking sounds and motioned for the edge of the cliff. I felt around and ignited my fire. A door came to life. Above it read, "Bunker Nine."