Kerosine Dreams (Leo Valdez x Reader)

An Enticing Offer

"No clue." Leo admitted nonchalantly.

"Pah," Y/N scoffed nervously. "You're just trying to scare me."

"Noooo," Leo actually began to feel the chill of the evening air. "I'm being serious."

"Oh." She sighed. "Ok. Ummm...I have no clue what to do. That's cool."

"Well, we could start walking back in the direction we came." The boy turned to look back, only to be met with the sun completely fading behind the mass of trees swarmed around them. His heart sank a little. "Or we could hide until morning?"

"What's out best option?"

"Probably hiding. We could find a small cave or something." He shrugged.

Y/N fake gagged. "I'm not spending a whole night that close to you. Walking it is!"

Begrudgingly, Leo followed along knowing there was no bargaining with this girl. She had her sword drawn and Leo was ready to torch anything that crossed his path.

"So, just so you know, there's like...a lot of monsters in these woods. I don't think anything as extreme as chimeras, but still things that can...well—"

"Kill us?" Y/N questioned. "Awesome."

Now that it was dark and cold, Y/N and Leo were walking shoulder to shoulder, basically breathing down one another's necks. Because he could, Leo warmed his own body in hopes it would warm hers as well as they tread through the darkness.

His legs felt as if they'd give out, his body ached and he could feel his power diminishing. Y/N was still standing, but he knew she wouldn't be of much longer. They had been fighting for what felt like days. Monster after monster appeared from the darkness and the pair had to singlehandedly take them down together.

All hope seemed to drain from their bodies when a pair of beating red eyes appeared in the dark. Leo knew right away what it was. Y/N didn't, but she could tell it wasn't good just based off of how tight Leo's arms became as he stood defensively at her side. Just before he was about to illuminate the forest with all of the power he had left in him, a silver arrow, one reflecting the flickering of Leo's flames stuck into the monster approaching. The hound yelped and soon turned to dust after three more of the arrows found their mark in the animals thick, black fur.

Leo approached the pile of dust and picked up one of the arrows. It was the hunters of Artemis. They were here. But how did they find them?

Suddenly, there was movement in the woods to his right, causing him to retreat back to Y/N. Soon, a group of girls stepped into the light of the slow burning forest and surrounded the pair.

"Thalia?" Leo stifled a sharp exhale. It had been what seemed like forever since he'd seen Thalia. "What's up sister?!"

Y/N smacked him. "That's your sister?! Danggggg—"

"I am far from being his sister," Thalia cringed a little at Leo.

"Sooo, whatcha doing here?" Leo asked awkwardly.

Artemis appeared at Thalia's side. "We're here to speak with Y/N. Chiron sent us."

Leo eyed them suspiciously. The hunters didn't just show up at places without a good reason or if others were in danger. As far as Leo was concerned, they weren't in serious danger, despite the night long war. "Is this a rescue mission or a recruitment?"

Thalia shared a glance with Artemis and then suddenly, Leo was being pulled away by two girls and being sat down a ways off. Out of earshot, that was. He watched as some of the hunters put out the small fires in the woods and quickly set up their own sources of light. Small, yet bright, white lights hung from the trees which illuminated the woods in a beautiful kind of way.

Y/N stood there speaking with Thalia and Artemis. She seemed at ease, happy and intrigued by what they were saying. Except for the clothes, Y/N looked like she was already one of them.

That was when he snapped out of his daydream. He couldn't let her become a hunter. Of course, he knew it was her choice, but she just got to camp? She didn't even know who her parent was and she was already considering joining Artemis.

"Y/N, you're much older than most other demigods who come to camp half-blood for the first time. You survived a very, very long time on your own. It proves you are strong, intelligent and independent." Artemis explained softly. "I would like to offer you a place amongst us."

Artemis and Thalia had already explained what it would mean if Y/N joined the hunters. It was tempting, especially since she didn't really have anyone or anything in the real world. Here, she wouldn't be alone. She'd have a safe place to be, surrounded by people she cared about and a duty which kept her busy. She could be happy here with them.

"Ok, listen!" Leo shouted, making sure he got Y/N's attention before any of the girls in the makeshift camp caught him. "I know we're kinda mortal enemies right now, and that we didn't start off on the best foot, but at least think about this?"

Y/N could see some kind of emotion swelling in Leo's eyes, but she couldn't quite place it.

Leo didn't want her to leave forever. He wanted her to stay.

"You haven't even been at camp one full day, you don't know who's kid you are and you haven't seen what life as a demigod is really like!" He threw his arms around in the air in distress, trying to spit out the right words.

"I know what it's like. I've been running, fighting on my own since day one." She said coldly.

"That's not what it's really like," Leo muttered sympathetically. "There's friends, family. People who care. A chance to be happy. Just give it a shot. If you hate it? Whatever? Take their offer then." He tried to take a step closer but one of the girls stopped him. "Please come back with me."

Y/N felt like the entire weight of the world was resting upon her shoulders. How was she supposed to choose between a life secretly saving lives or sword fighting and cleaning cabins?

"Would you let me accept your offer later?"

Artemis nodded with a soft smile, taking Y/N's hand. "Take all of the time you need. Just know, we are always an option and would be glad to have you."

Leo let out an exasperated breath of relief and rest his hands on his hips, looking to Y/N with a tired smile.

"Alright, pack it up girls!" Thalia called out. She passed by Leo and sent him a quick nod. For the first, and probably only time in his life, he felt the slightest sense of approval from Thalia. The rarest of rare things.

It seemed like the hunters were gone in seconds. All they left behind was one of those bright, white lights with Y/N and directions back to camp. She made her way back to Leo, a little dazed looking and obviously very tired.

"Thanks for making me rethink that," She said. "I really would have left with them otherwise."

"Aye, no problem. Here to save you from making impulsive decisions." Leo laughed and took the map from Y/N, figuring out which direction they needed to head. Luckily, it was straight ahead and he wasted no time in moving forwards. The last thing he needed was more monster attacks in his current state. Hopefully, the hunters had that looked after for them.