LEO.
——- "Cyclops!" Jason's eyes snapped open.
Piper held onto him to keep his place on the back of the bronze dragon as Leo piloted it himself. "Woah, sleepyhead." Piper coaxes. As if nothing had happened, as if the Cyclopes where never a threat, the four demigods peacefully flew through the snowy air.
As he recollected, Jason stammered, "D-Detroit... didn't we crash land? I thought — "
"It's okay, we got away. You got a nasty concussion though, how do you feel?" Leo called from out in front of Jason. Leo could tell his friend was still feeling the pain from his previous ailment.
"How did you — the Cyclops — "
"Leo annihilated them! It was amazing, he summoned fire and — " Y/n began. Leo felt his face grow hot.
"It was nothing." Leo said quickly. His shoulders scrunched up and his face tensed. Leo didn't know what was wrong with him; he pouted and pushed the thoughts out of his head.
"Shut up Valdez," Piper laughed, "He'll know eventually. Get over it." She joked.
Her and Y/n proceeded to explain everything that happened back at the warehouse — starting with how he defeated all the Cyclopes by himself, freed Piper and Jason, and replaced Festus's wiring and get them all back into the air just as they heard the Cyclopes roaring for vengeance inside the factory.
Leo's face felt hotter and tenser at the way a certain someone had described his previous actions, and it was extremely embarrassing; even though no one could see him.
Piper told Jason about the kid in the purple shirt speaking Latin that the Cyclopes ate previously and from his time Leo could tell he was shocked. "I'm not alone, then." Jason began, "There are others like me."
"You were never alone, Jason. You've got us." Piper reassured.
"I — I know, but something Hera said... I was having a dream..." At that Jason then explained his dream. The exchange, his sister, and the threat in Chicago.
"An exchange? What does that mean?" Piper inquired. Leo noticed that Y/n was being oddly quiet, which wasn't unlike her. But it the recent hours, Leo had thought she was opening up to the three, and the only time she had acted like this was when she was keeping a big secret. He was concerned.
"I'm not sure, but Hera's gamble was me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling that she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way — "
"Or save us." Piper hoped, "That bit about a sleeping enemy sounds like that lady Leo told us about."
Leo cleared his throat, "About that... she kind of appeared to me back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge."
Jason did a double take, "Porta-Potty sludge?"
Leo then elaborated and explained what had happened after Y/n had walked off after the two left the factory, and what the giant face in the ground had said. "I don't know if she's completely unkillable, but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that. She wanted me to betray you guys and I was like 'Pfft, right, I'm gonna listen to a face in the potty sludge.' "
Most of his friends were silent at his attempt to lighten the diminishing mood, but he at least got a small chuckle out of Y/n.
Piper sighed, "She's trying to divide us."
"What's wrong?" Jason asked.
"I just... Why are they toying with us? Who is this lady and how is she connected to Enceladus?"
Leo felt Y/n tense behind him. He turned to look at her, and she avoided his eye contact. His eyebrows furrowed and he turned back forward. Weird.
"Enceladus?" Jason asked.
Piper's voice shook, "I mean... That's just one of the giants. Just one of the names I could remember."
Leo guessed there was more to what she was saying, but decided against prying. He scratched his head, "Well, I don't know about that guy, but old Potty Face mentioned another name, Porpoise fear or something?"
"Porphyrion. The giant king." Y/n added, speaking up for the first time in a while.
"I'm going to take a wild guess," Jason started, "in the old stories, Porphyrion kidnapped Hera. That was the first shot in the war between the giants and the gods."
Y/n nodded, and Piper agreed, "I think so. But those myths are really garbled and conflicted. It's almost like nobody wanted that story to survive. I just remember there was a war, and the giants were almost impossible to kill."
"Heroes and gods working together. That's what Hera told me." Jason added.
"Kind of hard to do if the gods won't even talk to us." Leo grumbled.
As they continued flying West, Leo thought back to everything that happened; about someone specifically.
Y/n.
Now, both she and Jason had their memories removed and where placed on that bus by some sort of higher power, but thanks to Jason's revealing dream, they all now know that it was Hera who put him on that bus for some sort of 'exchange' purpose. But Y/n? If she had any dream about it, she never said. And one thing Leo noticed about her — she knew more than she let on. Every time someone was unsure about some sort of unknown, godly event, she had an answer. Whether it be Leo's unfortunate claiming situation, or just a few seconds ago with Porphyrion; Leo felt she was hiding something.
And that worried him. The boy wondered if his other friends had noticed this too — he decided he would ask the two at some point in this quest.
Leo felt bad for feeling this way, since Y/n was his friend. Even if they'd barely known each other, he felt like they had grown pretty close over time. Which made it hurt all the more when he doubted her motives. When Jason was realized as the son of some big shot god (literally the big shot god) and Piper was claimed by the goddess of love and beauty, the two things Leo believed he'd never have, he felt that he and Y/n had been in the same boat; Leo, the son of a mediocre god, and Y/n, unclaimed by anyone — two losers who had each other.
When the giant face in the sludge asked him to betray his friends the obvious answer was no. Obviously. But if Y/n betrayed the gods, what would Leo do? Would he stay somewhere he felt he'd never belong, or follow one of the only people who understood him?
At that, he decided he was done thinking about it. It interfered with his attempt to keep his sanity.
Leo preferred to focus on the city encompassing the edge of a lake that came into view under the cloud line below him. Snow covered neighborhoods glittered in the winter sunrise and skyscrapers lined the shoreline stretching into the horizon.
"Chicago." Jason said.
"One problem down, we got here alive." Leo added, "Now, how do we find those storm spirits?" Just as he said that, he saw a flash of something fly beneath them. Too small to be a plane, larger than a bird. Dark and fast. It spiraled down towards the skyscrapers, changing shape and appearing in the shape of a smoky horse for only a second.
"How about we follow that one, and see where it goes?" Jason suggested as the ventus sped off. "Speed up!"
"Bro, if I get any closer he'll spot us. The bronze dragon ain't exactly a stealth plane." Leo said.
"Slow down!" Piper urged.
The storm spirit dove down into the downtown streets of Chicago, weaving through the tallest buildings and the lowest streets. Festus attempted to follow but when his wing knocked a gargoyle off of a ledge due to his large wingspan, Leo was forced to pull up.
"Get above the buildings, we'll track him from up there." Jason suggested.
"You wanna drive this thing?" Leo grumbled, still doing what Jason asked.
Leo saw the storm spirit after a few minutes of flight, seeing it zip through the streets, making cars swerve, blowing over pedestrians, confusing animals.
"Oh great. There's two." Piper said.
She was right; the second ventus blasted onto the sidewalk from behind the Renaissance Hotel and caught up with the first one.
They chaotic danced together, zooming to the top of a skyscraper, spinning up a radio tower, and zooming down towards the street.
Leo's face scrunched, "Wow, those guys do not need any more caffeine."
"Well, I guess Chicago's a good place to hang out," Piper shrugged. "Nobody's going to question a couple more evil winds."
"More than a couple," Jason pointed down to what he saw. "Look."
Festus circled over a wide avenue next to a lakeside park where storm spirits were converging. At least a dozen of them whirled around a big public art installation.
"Which one do you think is Dylan?" Leo wondered. "I wanna throw something heavy and preferably sharp at him."
Leo looked at the art installation. As they got closer, a weird feeling grew in his chest. It was just a public foun-tain, but something seemed off. And Leo noticed how uneasy Jason was acting. Two five-story monoliths rose from either side of the long, granite, reflecting pool. The monoliths seemed to be built of video screens, flashing the combined image of a giant face that spewed water into the pool.
Leo noticed that the monoliths looked similar to what Jason described in his dream. The image on the screens changed to a woman's face with her eyes closed.
"Leo..." Jason said nervously.
"I see her. I don't like her, but I see her." Leo sighed.
The screens went dark. The venti swirled together into a funnel cloud and scattered across the fountain while kicking up a waterspout that almost reached the tip of the monoliths. They got to the center, blew off a drain cover, and disappeared into the ground.
"Did they just go down a drain?" Piper inquired. "How are we supposed to follow them?"
"Maybe we shouldn't," Leo urged. "That fountain thing is giving me seriously bad vibes. And aren't we supposed to, like, beware the earth?"
Leo knew something bad was going to happen if they went, but he had a feeling no matter what he wanted that they had to follow. It was their only way forward, and they had to find Hera; especially since they had only two days until the solstice.
"Put us down in that park. We'll check it out on foot." Jason suggested.
— ( ☆ ) —
Festus landed in an open area between the skyline and the lake. The sign said 'Grant Park', and Leo thought it might be a pretty nice place in the summer; but in this cold, rigid, Illinois winter, the sidewalks were drizzled in dirty snow, ice melt, and shivering civilians. The dragon's hot, bronze, feet hissed as they touched down to the ground and melted four circles under each limb. Festus flapped his wings unhappily and shot fire into the sky—thank gods there was no one around to notice. The chilly breeze coming off the lake was bitter cold, anyone with any sense would be inside. Leo's teeth chattered as he rubbed the side of his arms. He was upset with his exceptionally light attire.
The group dismounted, and Festus stomped his feet. One of his ruby eyes flickered and it looked like he was blinking.
"Is that normal?" Jason asked.
Leo pulled a rubber mallet from his tool bag. He whacked the dragon's bad eye and the light went back to normal.
"Yes," Leo said. "Festus can't hang around here, though, in the middle of the park. They'll arrest him for loitering. Maybe if I had a dog whistle."
He rummaged through his tool belt, but came up with nothing.
He frowned, "Too specialized? Okay, give me a safety whistle. They got that in lots of machine shops."
This time, Leo pulled out a big, plastic, orange, whistle.
"Coach Hedge would be so jealous! Okay, Festus, listen." Leo blew the whistle. The shrill sound was probably heard all the way across Lake Michigan. "You hear that, come find me, okay? Until then, you fly wherever you want. Just, try not to barbecue any pedestrians."
The dragon snorted—hopefully in agreement. Then he spread his wings and launched into the air.
Piper took one step forward and winced, "Ah!"
"Your ankle?" Jason asked. Leo felt bad she'd gotten hurt back at the Cyclops factory. When he thought about it, he remembered Y/n's wound. He looked to her shoulder that was covered by her jacket, but got quickly distracted by her face. One word to describe it; grim. He wasn't sure what happened, but something changed. Ever since she heard Jason explain his dream. Leo was worried.
"That nectar we gave you might be wearing off." Jason added.
"It's fine." She shivered. She took a few more steps with only a slight limp, but it was easy to tell she was trying not to grimace.
"Let's get out of the wind," Jason suggested.
"Down a drain?" Piper shuddered. "Sounds cozy."
They wrapped themselves up as best they could and headed toward the fountain.
According to the plaque outside, it was called Crown Fountain. All the water had emptied out except for a few patches that were starting to freeze over. Leo thought it was weird that there was even any water in the fountain in the first place. On the other hand, those big monitors had flashed the face of their mysterious enemy; the Dirt Woman/face in the Potty sludge. This whole place was weird.
They stepped to the center of the pool. No spirits tried to stop them, and the giant monitor walls stayed dark. The drain hole was easily big enough for a person and a maintenance ladder led down into the void.
Jason went first. Then Piper, Leo, and Y/n. In that order.
As Leo climbed, he felt a terrible feeling of familiarity. Back when he used to do this almost every day. Leo expected the sewer the smell like all the past ones he'd been in, but to his surprise, it really didn't smell like anything. Maybe slightly damp and grimey, but not too bad. The ladder dropped into a brickwork tunnel running north to south. The air was warm and dry, with only a trickle of water on the floor.
"Are all sewers this nice?" Piper wondered.
"No," Leo denied. "Trust me."
Jason frowned. "How do you know—"
"Hey, man, I ran away six times. I've slept in some weird places, okay? Now, which way do we go?"
Jason tilted his head, listening, then pointed south. "That way."
"How can you be sure?" Piper questioned.
"There's a draft blowing south," Jason nodded. "Maybe the venti went with the flow."
It wasn't much of a lead, but nobody was complaining.
Unfortunately, as soon as they started walking, Piper stumbled, but Jason caught her.
"Stupid ankle," she cursed.
"Lets take a break," Jason decided. "We could all use some rest, we've been going nonstop for over a day. Leo, can you pull any food from that tool belt besides breath mints?"
"Thought you'd never ask. Chef Leo is on it!" Leo grinned.
Piper, and Jason sat on a brick ledge next to Y/n who decided to stand and lean on it, while Leo shuffled through his pack.
Leo was happy to help. He was worried that all he'd be good for was flying the dragon, so he was overjoyed to help out his friends. Plus, he was hungry, too. Leo overheard as Piper and Jason spoke.
"It wasn't your fault," Piper blurted.
Jason looked at her blankly. "What?"
"Getting jumped by the Cyclopes," Piper reiterated. "It wasn't your fault."
Jason looked down at the coin in his palm. "I was stupid. I left you alone and walked into a trap. I should've known..."
He didn't finish.
Piper nudged his arm. "Hey, give yourself a break.
Just because you're the son of Zeus doesn't mean you have to be a one-man army."
A few feet away, Leo lit a small cooking fire. He hummed a tune as he pulled supplies out of his pack and his tool belt. He turned to look at Y/n, who was leaning against the brick wall, looking off the the side.
"I know this must suck for you," Jason said. "Not just the quest, I mean. I randomly appeared on the bus, the Mist messed with your mind, and made you think I was... you know. I know it's been, hard, for you."
She dropped her gaze. "It's been hard for all of us. None of us asked for this, it's not your fault. If I said it was that'd mean it would have to be Y/n's fault too, which it isn't."
Piper tugged at one of her braids and looked away, like she'd been guilty of something.
"Back in the factory," Jason added, "you were going to say something about your dad."
Piper traced her finger over the bricks, almost like she was writing out a scream she didn't want to vocalize. "Was I—"
"Piper," Jason stated, "he's in some kind of trouble, isn't he?"
Leo poured seasoning over some sizzling meat in a pan, mixing it together with a wooden spoon. He grinned as the fire got bigger by his request.
Piper looked on the verge of tears, her voice wavered. "Jason... I can't talk about it."
"We're your friends. Let us help." Jason pushed.
That seemed to make her feel worse. Piper took a shaky breath. "I wish I could, but—"
"And—done!" Leo announced.
Leo walked over with three plates stacked on his arms like a waiter. His friends had no idea where he'd gotten all the food, or how he'd put it together so fast, but it looked amazing: hamburgers and hotdogs steamed into the air.
"Leo," Piper said in amazement. "How did you-?"
"Chef Leo's fixing you up!" he said proudly. "And by the way, it's tofu, not beef, beauty queen, so don't freak. Just dig in!"
Leo wasn't sure about tofu, as he'd never tried a veggie burger before, but the hamburgers tasted as good as they smelled. While they ate, Leo tried to lighten the mood and joke around. He hoped his friends were happy Leo was with them, as he tried to make things less uncomfortable and tense after what happened with Jason and Piper.
Y/n ate (your choice) quietly, still seemingly lost in thought. As he sat down on the ledge next to Piper, Leo noticed her looking at Y/n, and Piper sent a glance his way. He understood what she meant; 'What's wrong with her?' Leo shrugged dejectedly in response. 'I wish I knew.'
Leo pushed up from his spot and scooted next to Y/n. Jason as Piper started an unrelated conversation a few feet from them, so Leo was sure they couldn't hear.
"You okay?" He asked.
Y/n's eyebrows furrowed, but she didn't look at him. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Leo frowned. "It's just... you've been so quiet since, well, earlier. I just wanted to make sure, and see how you're doing."
Y/n's eyes focused on the ground by her feet, and she sighed.
"I think— I just, it's hard to explain..." she sighed.
She finally looked up to the boy, and Leo saw the pained look on her face. He pouted, and patted his hand on the spot next to him. She took the hint and climbed up next to him.
"You can tell me. You can tell me anything, Y/n. We're all going through things." Leo smiled, and for the first time in a while, Y/n's eyes glinted, and a small grin made it way to her lips. Leo felt as though the world stopped spinning, and he just stared at the girl. It took a minute, but he quickly regained his composure and realized he was staring. Leo looked away at the realization.
"Thank you. Really." Y/n nodded.
"Yeah, no problem. We're friends, right?" He still couldn't muster up the courage to look at her, but Y/n leaned closer to Leo, maneuvering her face so that she could see him, and he was forced to meet her eyes.
She smiled. A smile more sincere than she'd ever provided him with the chance to see. "Best friends. We're best friends. It'd be embarrassing if we weren't after all that's happened."
Leo felt his heart flutter. Best friends. He could get used to that. A soft smile adorned his face, until Y/n turned to look forward as her face fell.
"It's about Jason's dream..."
— ( ☆ ) —
After Piper ate, Jason encouraged her to get some sleep.
Without another word, she curled up and put her head in his lap. In two seconds she was snoring.
Jason looked up at Leo and Y/n, who were obviously trying not to laugh.
The three sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking lemonade Leo had made from canteen water and powdered mix.
"Good, huh?" Leo grinned.
"You should start a stand," Jason offered. "Make some serious coin."
But as he stared at the embers of the fire, something began to bother him. "Leo... about this fire stuff you can do ...is it true?"
Leo's smile faltered. "Yeah, well. " He opened his hand and a small ball of flame burst to life, dancing across his palm. "That is so cool." Jason said. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Leo closed his hand and the fire went out. "I didn't want
to look like a freak."
"I have lightning and wind powers," Jason reminded him. "Piper can turn beautiful and charm people into giving her BMWs. Y/n can... well, I'm sure she's weird too. You're no more of a freak than we are. And hey, maybe you can fly, too. Like jump off a building and yell, 'Flame on!'"
Y/n nodded when her name was mentioned.
Leo snorted. "If I did that, you would see a flaming kid falling to his death, and I would be yelling something a little stronger than 'Flame on!' Trust me, the Hephaestus cabin doesn't see fire powers as cool. Nyssa told me they're super rare. When a demigod like me comes around, bad things happen. Really bad."
"Maybe it's the other way around," Jason shrugged, and Leo looked at him, confused.
"Maybe people with special gifts show up when bad things are happening because that's when they're needed most."
Y/n looked down at her hand. "Or maybe, bad things happen around people with special powers because the world never treats them fairly."
(unedited)