(Y/N)'s POV
If it were any other time, and any other place, (Y/N) would be relishing this moment, the feeling of his wings at his back again, finally reunited with his friends, with Annabeth, finally getting the chance to fly on the pirate ship that would have made six year old him pass out from excitement.
The start of the day was like a dream to him, his reward after being away from those he loved for so long, but in a few short moments, his dream had been twisted into a nightmare. One that he was forced to endure.
Now half his friends were in danger from the other half his friends, who thought he was a traitor...again. He knew this would most likely spark a civil war between demigods, who seriously had bigger issues to deal with right now.
As did (Y/N). His girlfriends return wasn't at the top of his list right now. His protégé had been kidnapped, half a city had already been bombed, a small child was in danger, and if that all wasn't bad enough. To top it off, in all the chaos, he lost his hat.
He swept through the city as it exploded beneath him, he watched buildings crumble. He saw soldiers being called to arms en masse. He turned his back to the floor as he flew, looking up at the Argo II causing the damage, and grit his teeth, he had not been this angry in a very long time.
He had promised Reyna that his friends came in peace, he never expected this, just the thought of the Greeks being seen as such savages hurt him deeply. He had to help the Romans somehow, had to do some damage control.
Even as the vessel raised into the sky it continued to rain fire on the city, it's added height giving it more range of destruction, (Y/N) didn't know who had caused this, but he knew when he found them they would regret it.
But something else came first. (Y/N) slipped his way through the streets, against the tide of soldiers heading in the opposite direction, closing his eyes and letting his body dictate where to go as he searched for a soul in particular.
When he did find her, he was met with two very conflicting emotions, as he watched Julia curled up into a ball, sobbing, his first feeling was absolute fury. Diluted only by the emotion that followed when he saw a barrier of light surrounding her, protecting her, and a statue beside her grunting in effort.
"Julia!" (Y/N) screamed. The girl jumped at the sudden call of her name, her head shooting up, when she saw him she tried her best to wipe her tears, "(Y/N)!" She said, her voice still shaking. She tried to stand, only for a nearby explosion to shake the ground and push her down again.
It was the quiver in her voice that broke him, that set him on the path he followed from there, after that slight tremble in her voice, (Y/N) lost himself, not thinking about anything but getting her safe, only focusing on the quickest way to reach her.
"What have you brought upon Rome!" Terminus said accusingly, as (Y/N) slammed into the barrier surrounding her, "Terminus let me in!" (Y/N) demanded, not thinking clearly, "I can get her safe, I'll get her out of here."
Terminus's face turned into a vicious sneer. "I can protect the girl. Go, leave this city with your traitor friends!" The thought of the two of them fighting was too much for an already stressed out Julia, who began sobbing once more, calling for her mother and father.
At the sound of the girl crying, (Y/N) snapped, remembering something his father had said, about death not being stopped by barriers, he balled his hand and smashed through the barrier with a fist, trying to get the girl safe, away from the attack.
"What have you done you FOOL!" The statue roared in anger as the barrier around them faded away. (Y/N) understood his mistake a moment after he made it, as he saw the shadows dancing on the floor and felt the heat above him. As the warship continued to rain fire. He had just gotten rid of her only protection.
He had to get her out of here, he had to save her, he had to! But he didn't have time, he couldn't shadow travel, or outrun the blast, he didn't have time to think, so he acted on instinct, and shielded Julia with his body as a ballista's spear scorched the air heading towards them.
The moment the impact shook the earth, and the spear crashed into the earth beside them, (Y/N) had a horrible, gut twisting memory stir in his mind, a terrible, wicked thought. He was going to fail again.
He had been here before, trying and failing to shield someone he loved from the world burning around him, as the memory of Beckendorf's ghost traced by his closed eyelids and his heart sank, he swore 'Not again. Not this time.'
It took a full twenty seconds for the sound of crackling fire and the sound of air burning to relent. Replaced immediately by a familiar 'poof' of Terminus disposed of the flame that threatened to mess up his lawn.
It was only at that sound that (Y/N) dared to open his eyes, if was only then the twist in his stomach seemed to unravel in the slightest and he mustered the courage to face reality again. He didn't realise he was injured until much later.
He didn't really feel the pain of the burn, his body was pumping so much adrenaline through his system that it the only way he knew he had in fact been burned at all was the slight sting of the open air trailing down his spine.
He pushed any grimace of pain he wanted to make back, instead looking down at Julia. "Are you okay?" Was all he asked, though in that moment, if the girl had said anything other than the timid "Yes." she offered, (Y/N) was sure he would have lost his mind.
He could have been struck dead in that moment and died happy, seeing that she was uninjured, he didn't realize how likely that outcome was until he heard Terminus snarl with a deep, genuine rage, "UNHAND HER!"
(Y/N) was thrown backwards into stone, thrown outside the boundary. From there he had an excellent view of the Argo II disappearing through the crowds as Roman defences forced it to retreat, and a better view of the mass of soldiers that surrounded him, weapons drawn.
Led of course, by Octavian. The rest of the cohort leaders and some of the most prominent Lares shadowed him, Reyna was nowhere to be seen. "You. Traitor to Rome!" Octavian said, holding his knife.
"WHAT DID YOU DO YOU SNAKE!" (Y/N) roared, charging towards Octavian, ready to choke the life from him, until Gwen hit (Y/N) in the gut with the blunt end of her spear and he fell to his knees.
"Me?" Octavian said incredulously, "I've done nothing but warn you against this!" He declared to the crowd, "It was your GREEK friends that attacked. Unprovoked! The one on the ship decided to bring this upon us."
"We would never!" (Y/N) hissed, "WHAT DID YOU DO!" He demanded, Octavian turned it on him with ease. "We? Is it 'we' now? Have you chosen your side (Y/N)? Even after all this devastation, you side with the Greeks."
"The boy Leo has turned weapons on our peaceful city. It was him that caused all of this destruction with the Greek weapon of war! Brought to our front gates under your advisement!" Octavian said as if to remind the others.
"I warned against trusting these Greeks. It was your newly appointed 'praetor', Percy Jackson, and Reyna in her infinite wisdom, who supported the 'peaceful' talks. Well Romans, is this the peace we were promised?"
There was a large wave of murmurs from the crowd, "And this traitor, he swore to put his life on the line, did he not?" Another murmur. "A misguided risk or a heinous plan, it matters not, he has made his choice. Let Roman justice befall him!"
Normally, if he was thinking clearly, (Y/N) may have reacted to this news differently, fought for his friend, argued on the behalf of Leo and the Greeks, even under threat of execution hanging over him. But after seeing Julia in that state, he wasn't thinking clearly.
It was a course of action brought on by stress, and fear, and trauma. His mind was almost taken over by it, as the worst parts of his nature reared it's head. Twisting his thoughts, informing his decisions.
As soon as he heard the name pass Octavian's lips, it was like his whole body went numb, like every other sound went numb to his ears, he had a name, he had a culprit, he had someone to blame.
"Leo." He muttered, and what happened next felt like it was entirely out of his control. His voice was drowned out by the cheers of a few dozen bloodthirsty Romans, Octavian stepped forward, plunging his dagger downward towards (Y/N). But his blade never met it's target.
Leo's POV
Leo wished he could invent a time machine. He'd go back two hours and undo what had happened. Either that, or he could invent a Slap-Leo-in-the-Face machine to punish himself, though he doubted it would hurt as badly as the look Annabeth was giving him.
"One more time," she said. "Exactly what happened?" Leo slumped against the mast. His head still throbbed from hitting the deck. All around him, his beautiful new ship was in shambles. The aft crossbows were piles of kindling.
The foresail was tattered. The satellite array that powered the onboard Internet and TV was blown to bits, which had really made Coach Hedge mad. Their bronze dragon figurehead, Festus, was coughing up smoke like he had a hairball.
Leo could tell from the groaning sounds on the port side that some of the aerial oars had been knocked out of alignment or broken off completely, which explained why the ship was listing and shuddering as it flew, the engine wheezing like an asthmatic steam train.
He choked back a sob. "I don't know. It's fuzzy." Too many people were looking at him: Annabeth (Leo hated to make her angry; that girl scared him), Coach Hedge with his furry goat legs, his orange polo shirt, and his baseball bat and the new-comer, Frank.
Leo wasn't sure what to make of Frank. He looked like a baby sumo wrestler, though Leo wasn't stupid enough to say that aloud. Leo's memory was hazy, but while he'd been half conscious, he was pretty sure he'd seen a dragon land on the ship—a dragon that had turned into Frank.
Annabeth crossed her arms. "You mean you don't remember?" "I..." Leo felt like he was trying to swallow a marble. "I remember, but it's like I was watching myself do things. I couldn't control it."
Coach Hedge tapped his bat against the deck. In his gym clothes, with his cap pulled over his horns, he looked just like he used to at the Wilderness School, where he'd spent a year undercover as Jason, Piper, and Leo's P.E. teacher.
The way the old satyr was glowering, Leo almost wondered if the coach was going to order him to do push-ups. "Look, kid," Hedge said, "you blew up some stuff. You attacked some Romans. Awesome! Excellent! But did you have to knock out the satellite channels? I was right in the middle of watching a cage match."
"Coach," Annabeth said, "why don't you make sure all the fires are out?" "But I already did that." "Do it again." The satyr trudged off, muttering under his breath. Even Hedge wasn't crazy enough to defy Annabeth.
She knelt next to Leo. Her gray eyes were as steely as ball bearings. Her blond hair fell loose around her shoulders, but Leo didn't find that attractive. He had no idea where the stereotype of dumb giggly blondes came from.
Ever since he'd met Annabeth at the Grand Canyon last winter, when she'd marched toward him with that Give me what I want or I'll kill you expression, Leo thought of blondes as much too smart and much too dangerous.
"Leo," she said calmly, "did Octavian trick you somehow? Did he frame you, or—" "No." Leo could have lied and blamed that stupid Roman, but he didn't want to make a bad situation worse. "The guy was a jerk, but he didn't fire on the camp. I did."
The new kid, Frank, scowled. "On purpose?" "No!" Leo squeezed his eyes shut. "Well, yes...I mean, I didn't want to. But at the same time, I felt like I wanted to. Something was making me do it. There was this cold feeling inside me—"
"A cold feeling." Annabeth's tone changed. She sounded almost...scared. "Yeah," Leo said. "Why?" From belowdecks, Percy called up, "Annabeth, we need you." Oh, gods, Leo thought. Please let Jason be okay.
As soon as they'd gotten on board, Piper had taken Jason below. The cut on his head had looked pretty bad. Leo had known Jason longer than anyone at Camp Half-Blood. They were best friends. If Jason didn't make it...
"He'll be fine." Annabeth's expression softened. "Frank, I'll be back. Just...watch Leo. Please." Frank nodded. If it was possible for Leo to feel worse, he did. Annabeth now trusted a Roman demigod she'd known for like, three seconds, more than she trusted Leo.
Once she was gone, Leo and Frank stared at each other. The big dude looked pretty odd in his bedsheet toga, with his gray pullover hoodie and jeans, and a bow and quiver from the ship's armory slung over his shoulder.
Leo remembered the time he had met the Hunters of Artemis—a bunch of cute lithe girls in silvery clothes, all armed with bows. He imagined Frank frolicking along with them. The idea was so ridiculous, it almost made him feel better.
"So," Frank said. "Your name isn't Sammy?" Leo scowled. "What kind of question is that?" "Nothing," Frank said quickly. "I just— Nothing. About the firing on the camp...Octavian could be behind it, like magically or something. He didn't want the Romans getting along with you guys."
Leo wanted to believe that. He was grateful to this kid for not hating him. But he knew it hadn't been Octavian. Leo had walked to a ballista and started firing. Part of him had known it was wrong.
He'd asked himself: What the heck am I doing? But he'd done it anyway. Maybe he was going crazy. The stress of all those months working on the Argo II might've finally made him crack. But he couldn't think about that.
He needed to do something productive. His hands needed to be busy. Only he never got the chance. Frank and Leo both jumped in shock as the air around them became dark, and all of a sudden, from the shadow of the mast, (Y/N) was there.
Frank walked up to him, "Sup man, Annabeth's downstairs if you wanted t-" (Y/N) grabbed him by the face and pushed Frank to one side, instantly, Leo knew what was happening. Like an alarm bell ringing in his head.
It was like the air around Leo suddenly had a weight to it, like it was pressing down on him, the breeze seemed almost sharp as he sucked air into his chest, his heart leapt into his throat, all he could think of doing was running, not being here, with him.
A lump formed in his throat as he regarded the man before him, (Y/N), his friend. Back at camp, people had told Leo stories, warned him about the old (Y/N), the traitor, the savage who would attack the camp in it's entirety.
He didn't take much stock in their opinions, that wasn't the guy he knew. He could never imagine his friend fighting with gods or placing a curse that loomed over the camp for months. He never would have believed any of it. Until he saw those eyes, the coldness in them.
Frank noticed too and tackled (Y/N) as Leo yelled "HELP!" but the tackle did next to nothing, (Y/N) stepped to one side and Frank sailed past him, Leo decided in that moment, Frank would be a terrible sumo. "GUYS HEL-"
"Why did you put canons on the ship you little-" (Y/N) began as he ran forward and picked Leo up by the neck with one hand, slamming him into the mast of the ship. Everyone else aboard screamed at him to stop as they emerged from the stairs.
"Thought it was a good idea to carpet bomb a city full of people trying to live their lives did you?" (Y/N) spat. Driving his hand deeper into Leo's throat, cutting off his oxygen entirely. "DID YOU!"
The son of Hephaestus scrambled, trying to be released, burning (Y/N)'s forearm in an effort to escape, almost to the bone, but it didn't help, Piper was the first to arrive at their side, she tried to pull (Y/N) away, charm speaking him, but he pushed her away.
Frank tried next only for (Y/N) to headbutt him. Frank didn't back down though, even with a bloody nose, he got behind (Y/N) and wrapped his arms around him, freeing (Y/N)'s grip for a moment by kicking off the mast to make them both tumble backwards.
Even as Frank turned into a snake to constrict his arms (Y/N) kept glaring at Leo with those horrible eyes, as if he could only see Leo, (Y/N) didn't stop fighting even as Frank changed back to normal and dogpiled him, even despite Piper's protests.
Leo was sure he must have gone a shade of blue by the time Frank, Zoe and Percy had pulled (Y/N) free of him. "I'll kill him!" (Y/N) shouted, as Zoe pinned his arms to his side and Frank kicked his weapons away.
"KILL HIM!" (Y/N) bellowed, trying to wrestle himself free of Zoe's grip as Leo regained what little breath he could, watching as (Y/N) thrashed around, clawing at the ground and screaming in anger.
"Leo are you okay?" Piper said, rushing to his side, Leo tried to speak, but could only splutter as he held his throat, nodding instead, the danger wasn't over though, at the sound of Leo's name, (Y/N) thrashed harder.
It came to a head when he kicked off Frank and Percy, who were trying to help pin him down, and brought his knees to his chest, in the process kicking Zoe in the nose and flipping up as she reeled backwards in pain, Frank and Percy pulled their weapons, only for Annabeth to intervene.
"(Y/N)! STOP!" Annabeth shouted, he didn't listen, he looked ready to fight all of them to get to Leo, even as Piper and Annabeth got between the two, Leo thought "Oh what good is that going to do?"
He knew Annabeth was strong, and smart, and she did scare him, but not nearly as much as the crazed look in (Y/N)'s eyes as he looked around at them all like a beast, he thought "This chick is about to get hurt." That was until Annabeth planted her feet and sighed.
(Y/N) grit his teeth and lunged at Leo once more like a rabid animal, crashing into her as he did, but Annabeth caught his arm. "I. SAID. STOP!" Her other palm shot up and hit him in the chin, taking him off balance and stunning him.
Still not letting go of the grip on his arm, she pivoted her hips and wrenched him free of the ground like he weighed nothing at all, Coach Hedge would have been jealous at how easily she handled him.
(Y/N) landed harshly on the square of his back, she immediately followed him to the ground, forcing his arm and torso to twist in a way Leo knew couldn't have felt very pleasant, she put more strain on his arm and held him there for ten seconds or so.
After his anger died down a little. She spoke, firmly, "I am going to let you up, when I do, you are not going to reach for a weapon, you are not going to try and use any magic, you are going to turn your butt around, walk downstairs, and confine yourself to your room."
She didn't say, 'are we clear?' or 'understand?' because it wasn't an order, to Annabeth, it was a fact. She tentatively let go, (Y/N) got back to his feet, looked around at the demigods all around him, to Annabeth, then pulled away from her.
There was a tense moment where Leo thought he may have gone for round two, (Y/N)'s eyes flicked to his dagger laying discarded beside him, for a moment he paused, "Don't." Annabeth said immediately.
It was as if she knew what he would do before he did, she walked up and picked up the dagger herself. Like a teacher confiscating contraband, (Y/N) went to say something but before he got a word out she said "I know. I just don't care. We aren't doing this. Not now!"
(Y/N) glared in Leo's direction, a stare he was used to seeing on some of his old bullies after a risky joke gone awry. It meant, "I'll get you. Maybe not now, but I'll get you." Normally those glares didn't have such fatal connotations though.
(Y/N) stormed away towards his room. "Zoe, watch him. Take his weapons. He doesn't leave your sight." Annabeth said as he retreated to the other end of the ship. With the moment in the past, she then turned to Leo. Helping him to his feet.
"I guess I really shouldn't have touched his skateboard." Leo choked out. His throat felt like a pipe cleaner Annabeth pulled him up, "I am so sorry." She said. Pocketing the dagger and rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"What in Hades was that?" Piper said, her hand falling sympathetically onto Leo's shoulder, Annabeth's expression faltered for a moment, she looked in the direction her boyfriend went and grit her teeth.
Just for a moment, she looked utterly exhausted. Her eyes flickered to the bruise already forming on Leo's neck, for a moment, he thought he saw her lip quiver. "It's...well, it's hard to explain. It's better if he tells you, and-"
"I don't want him anywhere near me, explanation or not!" Leo wanted to say, but something about her expression made him just nod and accept it. She tried to explain, before she was cut off, "He can't help it, it's just part of who he is and-"
"-It's a whole thing." Percy said, putting his sword away, "This isn't the first time it's happened. He doesn't really mean it. Soon he'll come to his senses and then he'll probably feel worse than you do. Or you'll punch each other and call it even."
"This has happened before?" Piper said in concern. Annabeth nodded, "A few times, Yeah, he once put my brother in the infirmary for not beating him up in the right way." When Piper didn't respond, she continued.
With a pleading look she asked, "Please, I know it's hard but try not to hold it against him, he's not thinking like he normally would right now." "Has he tried therapy...instead of trying to kill me." Leo said, croaking out before Annabeth passed him a square of Ambrosia.
"If he wanted to kill you, you'd be dead." She said plainly like it was the most natural thing in the world. "He could have drained the life from you, or slit your-" She paused, "Not the issue, sorry, I just mean-"
"I-I don't even know what I mean. I can't believe this. It's his fatal flaw, but I never thought...I never predicted-" "Fatal for who?" "Whom..." She muttered in a small voice, before getting up. "I'll go talk to him, that'll never happen again I promise." She promised, hurrying off after him.
"Because I am going to kill him!" She said as she stormed off down the steps towards his room. Piper fussed over Leo for a few minutes following that, but in a way, Leo was glad it happened, part of him felt he deserved it after what he did.
Percy hung around for a while longer, as if he expected (Y/N) to come charging up the stairs again, once the moment passed though, he sighed and said, "For what it's worth. He isn't always like this."
Soon, Piper went to be with Jason again, and after Frank got his nose plugged and fixed, he resumed his appointed duty of watching Leo, as if he was a bigger problem than the golden eyed psycho who just tried to murder them all.
"So, today's off to a good start..." Leo said quietly, but when Frank just hummed in agreement and didn't make conversation, Leo decided he had better things to do than sitting around waiting to either be assassinated or go crazy again.
"Look," he said, "I should talk to Festus and get a damage report. You mind... ?" Frank helped him up. "Who is Festus?" "My friend," Leo said. "His name isn't Sammy either, in case you're wondering. Come on. I'll introduce you."
(Y/N)'s POV
The moment he sat down on his bed, (Y/N) felt as though he had made a huge mistake. No, in fact, he was sure he had, when he thought about Leo, he realized. He should have killed him in the night, when they were asleep, then he could have just blamed it on a monster.
It would have been so much easier. It wouldn't have been as satisfying of course, but he could have lived with that. Maybe he still could, tonight? No, that would be too suspicious, maybe in a few days.
Perhaps Leo could just have an unfortunate accident when he repaired the ship or something...no. That was horrible. Why would (Y/N) even think that? What in Hades was wrong with him? He couldn't keep dwelling on this.
So he moved on, his head swivelling around the room as Zoe blocked the exit, he refused to make eye contact with her, because knowing himself, if he did, he would begin to plot ways of getting past her.
So instead he studied the rooms interior. In doing so he noticed that this was not the first time his room had been used by someone, even if it was meant to be his private space. Someone else had been here.
The tell-tale signs of life were strewn about the room, someone had slept here at least once, he noted, as there was a book resting beside the pillow of his bed, 'The Argonautica' In Greek of course. He wasn't the biggest fan of the epic.
He almost smiled, since they had begun dating officially, Annabeth had apparently lost all interest in the definition of 'private domicile.' Everything, from his shirts on his back to the contents of his bedroom, had become shared property.
She was a big fan of making herself comfortable in his private spaces, not that he complained, he enjoyed her company, and she was fair about it, he had borrowed some of her clothes before too, whenever the mood struck him.
In fact, his cabin back home was strewn with a mix of their clothing. It made laundry day a nightmare, they had to sort out their clothing perfectly every week, not giving away that they shared the space despite Chiron's watchful gaze and under pain of death...or no pudding cups.
He could almost see it now, her walking into this room, her nose either buried in a book or hidden behind that accursed laptop of hers. She had undoubtedly paced around this room, probably more than once.
It was strange, once you know a person well enough, you can notice things like this. The little, tiny details, the ones anyone else would overlook. (Y/N) was proud that he could notice the personal scene of devastation left by Annabeth Chase.
If you could even call it that. All his pictures from his cabin were here, or copies at least. They had been straightened against the corner of the desk they rested on. He noticed the stacks of books beside the door. Easy access if you need to rush in and check something.
Speaking of. One of Annabeth's messier habits had reared its head at the bottom of his desk, where she had clearly been studying something or other. See, Annabeth wasn't scatter-brained, or very forgetful, but she did get very hyper focused.
She tended to have moments where inspiration struck her suddenly, a thought or idea would rush into her head, she would have to immediately write it down or her mind would move so fast that it would get lost in her train of thought. The result of that?
Sticky notes. The bane of (Y/N)'s life, sticky notes. They would litter every inch of any room Annabeth invaded. The multi colored demon paper. He was forever finding them wherever he looked.
They often littered the fallout of every brainwave Annabeth ever had. (Y/N) glared down at his garbage can to find a small mountain of scrunched up sticky notes, or Annabeth's discarded thoughts, littering the floor surrounding the trash.
When she went on a tangent and did not have time to properly dispose of the evidence. She would occasionally, in the speed of her thoughts, forget to throw them away, instead lazily chucking them towards the waste paper basket as an afterthought.
"Every time..." He sighed, getting up to clean the small mess, only for Zoe to jolt as if she were struck by lightning, ready to pounce. Again he refused to look at her, and instead set to work. He barely heard the door open, or his guard being relieved, so the word "Explain." Shocked him.
Not the word itself, nor the person who spoke it, the tone, it frightened him, it was the venomous tone of someone who was entirely too fed up to deal with this. He knew it well, and knew what could follow after it.
"Why on earth-" She began, before letting out a frustrated exhale, "What on earth would-" She struggled to find the words in her anger, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! Why would you attack Leo like that!"
"Personally, it was the bombardment of the city that sealed it for me." He said bitterly, "You know exactly why I did what I did, he deserved what he got and much worse!" She sighed "That's not what I mean!" She fired back. "He's your friend, you've known him for months!"
"You fought Gaea together, but you just couldn't hold yourself back? Not a moment's pause or contemplation. Not even a second of thought? You didn't think to give your friend the benefit of the doubt for one minute before you go straight to MURDER!"
"Benefit of the doubt? HE DID IT!" (Y/N) yelled. "He wasn't himself. Say's something was controlling him." Annabeth explained what Leo had told her. "Of course he said that. I would say that too!"
"It's the only thing keeping him ALIVE!" (Y/N) stood up, but the moment he did, the adrenaline in his body wore off and he stumbled forward. Now noticing the burns that traced his entire body, from both Leo, and his toys.
"(Y/N), you can't hurt him, I wont let you. I believe him." She explained the weird feeling that she kept getting, (Y/N) frowned, his whole body shaking in anger, remembering the look on Julia's face and the tears in her eyes.
He didn't care. That was the thing, he didn't care at all. If Leo was being controlled or not had no impact on the situation, facts were, he had done it. He had to face the consequences of those actions regardless.
(Y/N) pushed himself forward, getting past Zoe would have been difficult, getting past Annabeth, that would be easier. Or so he thought in his frazzled mindset. Until she grabbed him by the arm. With no effort at all, she spun behind his back and forced him to sit on his bed.
"Turn around, I'll bandage you up." She commanded, he basically ignored her. "No, I have to find Leo, I have to-" "No you don't, you can-" "YES I DO!" He shouted. Not meaning to, but so caught up in his own thought process he couldn't control his voice.
Annabeth's voice changed from a commanding and angry oner, to a kinder gentler more patient one, "Okay then you can explain why as I bandage you, that can't hurt right." she said, making a gesture for him to turn around on the bed.
Normally, he'd have attacked her by now, if it were anyone else, save for a few people, he would have escaped the situation by now, but with Annabeth, he just couldn't, the thought of hurting her overwhelmed even his insane need for retribution.
With a hefty sigh, he rolled over as she salved his wounds and bandaged them, not wanting to waste ambrosia on anything non-life threatening. He was only annoyed about this later when he realized she gave Leo some earlier. It was explained away quite easy, a little trick Annabeth had devised.
See, if Leo's wounds were healed, but (Y/N) were not, the others would see it as Leo being favoured over (Y/N), the mission being put first over her personal feelings which would make them more receptive to his future apology.
As she got to work, he explained how he felt. He wasn't sure if they had ever spoke about this but he tried to help her get a grasp of his emotions. "As soon as I know the culprit, as soon as I know who to blame, it's...it's..."
He winced as the remedy was applied to his skin. "Tunnel vision to the extreme, it's all I can think about. For as long as it takes. Every atom in my body, every ounce of me, can only focus on one thing. Vengeance, in any form. As long as it's enough."
"Until I get that, it's worse than being tied down, it's painful, like my skin's about to burst. Even breathing's uncomfortable. Like any breath I take that isn't contributing to that one thing, hurts me."
"I cannot stop myself. I've tried, in the past, it's like asking me not to breathe. If I even try, it's like my muscles aren't my own, like they rebel against me, as much as I want to. I can't focus on anything else."
"I can't think of anything else, if I ever try, I think 'Okay, you can do that after this.' I only know when it's enough when that feeling stops, and...it never stops, not until...NOT UNTIL I-"
His body took over, and he tried to raise his body, but Annabeth placed her knees onto the small of his back. "Nope." She said simply, "Your internal monologue can bite me, because you're not getting up until I'm finished."
She applied more salve. It didn't help, now he could only think of Leo being out there walking around, after everything he's done. "Focus on me." Annabeth's voice fluttered into his ears and he was given a moment of focus.
"Why do you want to take revenge? Rome isn't your responsibility, you didn't even become Praetor...despite my instructions" She trailed off, but could she not understand? Couldn't she see the harm Leo had done.
"Couldn't you just punch him?" She asked, "A punch? A PUNCH. That's not enough!" "Why not?" "Look at everything he's done!" He explained Julia and what she had gone though, and his cabinmates and the destroyed city.
She mustn't have seen all this. Otherwise she wouldn't have stopped him. "I have to kill him, I have to make sure he doesn't get away-" "What gives you the right to kill him-" "I'm the son of Thanatos I-" "Shouldn't the Romans get final say?" "But Julia-"
"Would Julia want you to kill Leo?" She asked. "I don't care!" He shouted, "I have to do it, I have to kill him, otherwise....otherwise I'll..." "What? Feel uncomfortable?" She said coyly. "I just have to, I CAN'T STOP IT I-" "Can't stop yourself?"
When her tone got calm and cold, (Y/N) knew she had found her angle. "Then you know exactly what it's like not to be in control of yourself, don't you. So you shouldn't hurt Leo, you should sympathize with him."
He paused, falling into her trap, "See, you don't need to, you want to. You can stop yourself, it's just hard. But I know that won't stop you, you've braved worse. I trust you. So do Leo and the others. Once you prove to them you aren't going to hurt them."
"In fact..." She pulled him up, finished with his treatment. "You are going to apologize. Now" "No. I'm not apologizing for anything. He should be the one who-" "He has apologized, you missed that part, now it's your turn."
"No, I can't, not even if I wanted to. If I go near him, I'm gonna take his head off." She shook her head, "No you won't, not with me here." He didn't realize how much she had managed to calm him down until she sighed at him and closed her eyes.
Normally, he would have sprinted past her in that moment of opportunity, but the feeling that overtook him seemed much less intense right now. "Leo's head is going to stay firmly on it's shoulders thank you."
"We have other things to worry about, and we can't get anything done if we are infighting and killing each other. So for the sake of the quest, and by extension, the world. You are going to drop the issue and we're putting it in the past."
That sounded impossible to (Y/N), the thought or suggestion of it felt like a joke to him in it's absurdity. Putting it in the past? Not having even a small vengeance befall Leo after everything he had done, after nearly hurting Julia? Yeah right.
When Atlas decides to take a nap and the earth and sky meet, when smelly Gabe became a best selling author, when the rivers of the underworld ran dry, that was when he'd forgive Leo. "You're going to forgive him, for me, because you owe me."
"After all, how are we supposed to get these Roman kids to trust us and journey half way across the world with us on a quest if the first thing you show them was how you treated one of your friends?"
"I feel like they are smart enough to discern the justification behind my actions Annabeth, they're pretty bright kids." He countered. She was clearly not a fan of his attitude towards the situation. She took his hand, "Lets go."
"FUUU-" "Come on!" She said, pulling him out the door already ranting angrily, "Oh and believe me ghost boy, this is just the beginning! Oh there is so much more I want to discuss with you. But let's save that for later, one burning bridge to fix at a time!" She snapped.
He was confused, what else could she possibly be mad about, the Leo thing, sure, (Y/N) felt totally justified in ringing the kids neck, but he could see why she'd be upset, but what else was there to be mad about?
Thinking on it, his memory was only sparked when he was dragged past the magic circle that Lou Ellen must have put in the ship. "Is this about you being left behind at Camp? What happened there?" He asked innocently. Making things worse.
She glared at him with her steely eyes, "That is just the tip of the iceberg!" She hissed, "Don't even get me started on the long list of things I am going to kick your butt for!" "Like what?" He said foolishly. "Tell me (Y/N), how's your French?" She said, her anger flaring.
"Been talking to Fleecy huh?" He sighed, "She's such a little snitch. That was an accident, it's pretty much the epitome of all the French I know, and I panicked. If it makes it any better, at the time, I wasn't talking to Khione, it was her father." It didn't make it better.
Leo's POV
Fortunately the bronze dragon wasn't damaged. Well, aside from the fact that last winter he'd lost everything except his head—but Leo didn't count that. When they reached the bow of the ship, the figurehead turned a hundred and eighty degrees to look at them.
Frank yelped and backed away. "It's alive!" he said. Leo would have laughed if he hadn't felt so bad. "Yeah. Frank, this is Festus. He used to be a full bronze dragon, but we had an accident." "You have a lot of accidents," Frank noted.
"Well, some of us can't turn into dragons, so we have to build our own." Leo arched his eyebrows at Frank. "Anyway, I revived him as a figurehead. He's kind of the ship's main interface now. How are things looking, Festus?"
Festus snorted smoke and made a series of squeaking, whirring sounds. Over the last few months, Leo had learned to interpret this machine language. Other demigods could understand Latin and Greek. Leo could speak Creak and Squeak.
"Ugh," Leo said. "Could be worse, but the hull is compromised in several places. The port aerial oars have to be fixed before we can go full speed again. We'll need some repair materials: Celestial bronze, tar, lime—"
"What do you need limes for?" "Dude, lime. Calcium carbonate, used in cement and a bunch of other— Ah, never mind. The point is, this ship isn't going far unless we can fix it." Festus made another click-creak noise that Leo didn't recognize.
It sounded like AY-zuhl. "Oh...Hazel," he deciphered. "That's the girl with the curly hair, right?" Frank gulped. "Is she okay?" "Yeah, she's fine," Leo said. "According to Festus, her horse is racing along below. She's following us."
"We've got to land, then," Frank said. Leo studied him. "She's your girlfriend?" Frank chewed his lip. "Yes." "You don't sound sure." "Yes. Yes, definitely. I'm sure." Leo raised his hands. "Okay, fine."
"The problem is we can only manage one landing. The way the hull and the oars are, we won't be able to lift off again until we repair, so we'll have to make sure we land somewhere with all the right supplies."
Frank scratched his head. "Where do you get Celestial bronze? You can't just stock up at Home Depot." "Festus, do a scan." "He can scan for magic bronze?" Frank marveled. "Is there anything he can't do?"
Leo thought: You should've seen him when he had a body. But he didn't say that. It was too painful, remembering the way Festus used to be. Leo peered over the ship's bow. The Central California valley was passing below.
Leo didn't hold out much hope that they could find what they needed all in one place, but they had to try. Leo also wanted to put as much distance as possible between himself and New Rome.
The Argo II could cover vast distances pretty quickly, thanks to its magical engine, but Leo figured the Romans had magic travel methods of their own. Behind him, the stairs creaked. Annabeth and (Y/N) climbed up, their faces grim.
Leo's heart stumbled. "Is Jason—?" "He's resting," Annabeth said. "Piper's keeping an eye on him, but he should be fine." (Y/N) gave him a hard look. "Annabeth says you did fire the ballista?" A small twinkle of that same expression was still in his eyes.
"Man, I—I don't understand how it happened. I'm so sorry—" "Sorry?" He growled. Annabeth put a hand on her boyfriend's chest. "We'll figure it out later. Right now, we have to regroup and make a plan. What's the situation with the ship?"
Leo's legs trembled. The way (Y/N) had looked at him made him feel the same as when Jason summoned lightning. Leo's skin tingled, and every instinct in his body screamed, Duck!
He told Annabeth about the damage and the supplies they needed. At least he felt better talking about something fixable. He was bemoaning the shortage of Celestial bronze when Festus began to whir and squeak.
"Perfect." Leo sighed with relief. "What's perfect?" Annabeth said. "I could use some perfect about now." Leo managed a smile. "Everything we need in one place. Frank, why don't you turn into a bird or something? Fly down and tell your girlfriend to meet us at the Great Salt Lake in Utah."
After a moment of awkward silence following Frank leaving, Annabeth looked at her boyfriend expectantly. He growled a little, but after a moment said, "I'm sorry." "For what?" Annabeth said with a raised eyebrow. "For not-" She elbowed him in the side. "For trying...to kill you."
"It was wrong of me to not...hear your side of the story before trying to kill you and...I regret...it now...and it wont happen again." This was a far cry from the apology Leo was expecting, the reluctance was palpable, (Y/N) sounded like he was in physical pain, which Leo didn't mind.
For a moment, he saw (Y/N)'s eyes flick to the side of the ship, like he was mentally debating if he could get away with throwing Leo over the edge. "Well, I won't be bombing any cities again either, so it won't have to."
(Y/N) frowned at him, and Leo immediately began regretting bringing up the thing that caused all of this. Until Annabeth broke the tension, pulling (Y/N) away, "And I'm sure Great Salt Lake, Utah, will be thankful for that. Let's go."
Once they got there, it wasn't a pretty landing. With the oars damaged and the fore sail torn, Leo could barely manage a controlled descent. The others strapped themselves in below—except for Coach Hedge, who insisted on clinging to the forward rail, yelling, "YEAH! Bring it on, lake!"
Leo stood astern, alone at the helm, and aimed as best he could. Festus creaked and whirred warning signals, which were relayed through the intercom to the quarterdeck. "I know, I know," Leo said, gritting his teeth.
He didn't have much time to take in the scenery. To the southeast, a city was nestled in the foothills of a mountain range, blue and purple in the afternoon shadows. A flat desert landscape spread to the south.
Directly beneath them the Great Salt Lake glittered like aluminum foil, the shoreline etched with white salt marshes that reminded Leo of aerial photos of Mars. "Hang on, Coach!" he shouted. "This is going to hurt." "I was born for hurt!"
WHOOM! A swell of salt water washed over the bow, dousing Coach Hedge. The Argo II listed dangerously to starboard, then righted itself and rocked on the surface of the lake. Machinery hummed as the aerial blades that were still working changed to nautical form.
Three banks of robotic oars dipped into the water and began moving them forward. "Good job, Festus," Leo said. "Take us toward the south shore." "Yeah!" Coach Hedge pumped his fists in the air. He was drenched from his horns to hooves, but grinning like a crazy goat. "Do it again!"
"Uh...maybe later," Leo said. "Just stay above deck, okay? You can keep watch, in case—you know, the lake decides to attack us or something." "On it," Hedge promised. Leo rang the All clear bell and headed for the stairs.
Before he got there, a loud clump-clump-clump shook the hull. A tan stallion appeared on deck with Hazel Levesque on his back. "How—?" Leo's question died in his throat. "We're in the middle of a lake! Can that thing fly?"
The horse whinnied angrily. "Arion can't fly," Hazel said. "But he can run across just about anything. Water, vertical surfaces, small mountains—none of that bothers him." "Oh."
Hazel was looking at him strangely, the way she had during the feast in the forum—like she was searching for something in his face. He was tempted to ask if they had met before, but he was sure they hadn't.
He would remember a pretty girl paying such close attention to him. That didn't happen a lot. She's Frank's girlfriend, he reminded himself. Frank was still below, but Leo almost wished the big guy would come up the stairs.
The way Hazel was studying Leo made him feel uneasy and self-conscious. Her eyes weren't scary like (Y/N)'s but felt just as invasive. Coach Hedge crept forward with his baseball bat, eyeing the magic horse suspiciously. "Valdez, does this count as an invasion?"
"No!" Leo said. "Um, Hazel, you'd better come with me. I built a stable belowdecks, if Arion wants to—" "He's more of a free spirit." Hazel slipped out of the saddle. "He'll graze around the lake until I call him."
"But I want to see the ship. Lead the way." The Argo II was designed like an ancient trireme, only twice as big. The first deck had one central corridor with crew cabins on either side.
On a normal trireme, most of the space would've been taken up with three rows of benches for a few hundred sweaty guys to do the manual labor, but Leo's oars were automated and retractable, so they took up very little room inside the hull.
The ship's power came from the engine room on the second and lowest deck, which also housed sickbay, storage, and the stables. Leo led the way down the hall. He'd built the ship with ten cabins.
Seven for the demigods of the prophecy, two for the assorted life partners and a room for Coach Hedge (Seriously—Chiron considered him a responsible adult chaperone?). At the stern was a large mess hall/lounge, which was where Leo headed.
On the way, they passed Jason's room. The door was open. Piper sat at the side of his bed, holding Jason's hand while he snored with an ice pack on his head. Piper glanced at Leo. She held a finger to her lips for quiet, but she didn't look angry.
That was something. Leo tried to force down his guilt, and they kept walking. When they reached the mess hall, they found the others—Percy, Zoe, Annabeth, (Y/N) and Frank—sitting dejectedly around the dining table.
Leo had made the lounge as nice as possible, since he figured they'd be spending a lot of time there. The cupboard was lined with magic cups and plates from Camp Half-Blood, which would fill up with whatever food or drink you wanted on command.
There was also a magical ice chest with canned drinks, perfect for picnics ashore. The chairs were cushy recliners with thousand-finger massage, built-in headphones, and sword and drink holders for all your demigod kicking-back needs.
There were no windows, but the walls were enchanted to show real-time footage from Camp Half-Blood—the beach, the forest, the strawberry fields—although now Leo was wondering if this made people homesick rather than happy.
Because as he walked in (Y/N) was staring at it like it was about to give him the Powerball numbers and Percy was staring longingly at a sunset view of Half-Blood Hill, where the Golden Fleece glittered in the branches of the tall pine tree.
"So we've landed," Percy said. "What now?" Frank plucked on his bowstring. "Figure out the prophecy? I mean...that was a prophecy Ella spoke, right? From the Sibylline Books?" "The what?" Leo asked.
Frank explained how their harpy friend was freakishly good at memorizing books. At some point in the past, she'd inhaled a collection of ancient prophecies that had supposedly been destroyed around the fall of Rome.
"That's why you didn't tell the Romans," Leo guessed. "You didn't want them to get hold of her." Percy kept staring at the image of Half-Blood Hill. "Ella's sensitive. She was a captive when we found her. I just didn't want..."
He made a fist. "It doesn't matter now. I sent Tyson an Iris-message, told him to take Ella to Camp Half-Blood. They'll be safe there." Leo doubted that any of them would be safe, now that he had stirred up a camp of angry Romans on top of the problems they already had with Gaea and the giants; but he kept quiet.
Annabeth laced her fingers. "Let me think about the prophecy—but right now we have more immediate problems. We have to get this ship fixed. Leo, what do we need?" "The easiest thing is tar." Leo was glad to change the subject.
"We can get that in the city, at a roofing-supply store or someplace like that. Also, Celestial bronze and lime. According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."
"We'll have to hurry," Hazel warned. "If I know Octavian, he's searching for us with his auguries. The Romans will send a strike force after us. It's a matter of honor." "So are we going to ignore the hydra in the room, or can I kill him now?" (Y/N) said tiredly.
Leo felt everyone's eyes on him. "Guys...I don't know what happened. Honestly, I—" Annabeth raised her hand. "We've been talking. We agree it couldn't have been you, Leo. That cold feeling you mentioned...I felt it too."
"Isn't that convenient-" (Y/N) was silenced with a glance from his girlfriend. "It must have been some sort of magic, either Octavian or Gaea or one of her minions. But until we understand what happened—"
Frank grunted. "How can we be sure it won't happen again?" Leo's fingers heated up like they were about to catch fire. One of his powers as a son of Hephaestus was that he could summon flames at will; but he had to be careful not to do so by accident, especially on a ship filled with explosives and flammable supplies.
"I'm fine now," he insisted, though he wished he could be sure. "Maybe we should use the buddy system. Nobody goes anywhere alone. We can leave Piper and Coach Hedge on board with Jason. Send one team into town to get tar. Another team can go after the bronze and the lime."
"Split up?" Percy said. "That sounds like a really bad idea." "It'll be quicker," Hazel put in. "Besides, there's a reason a quest is usually limited to three demigods, right? Four's not that big of a stretch." Annabeth raised her eyebrows, as if reappraising Hazel's merits.
"You're right. The same reason we needed the Argo II...outside camp, nine demigods in one place will attract way too much monstrous attention. The ship is designed to conceal and protect us."
Zoe spoke up. "We should be safe enough on board; but if we go on expeditions, we shouldn't travel in groups larger than four. No sense alerting more of Gaea's minions than we have to. We must save our strength for the journey to come."
Percy still didn't look happy about it, but he took Zoe's hand. "As long as you're my buddy, I'm good." "(Y/N) smiled at the sight, then frowned at Leo. Hazel smiled. "Oh, that's easy. Frank, you were amazing, turning into a dragon!"
"Could you do it again to fly Annabeth, Zoe and Percy into town for the tar?" Frank opened his mouth like he wanted to protest. "I...I suppose. But what about you?" "I'll ride Arion with (Y/N) and Sa—with Leo, here." She fidgeted with her sword hilt, which made Leo uneasy.
She had clearly missed the memo about (Y/N) and Leo. She looked around confused when the others were uneasy. (Y/N) spoke, "No thanks, I'm not getting on that horse" Though Leo was sure he was less concerned with the horse, more the other passengers.
"Well, I'd normally want to go with Annabeth, but sincer that puts one group past maximum occupancy, and Frank can't switch since he's your ride home, I assume that I'm still grounded until you get back?" He asked Annabeth.
She looked between Leo and (Y/N), "If you think that's for the best, I wouldn't want more than four max in one group and on the flip side I won't force you if you don't want to...ride Arion... But since you can shadow travel, I want you ready in case either group need backup."
"So it's settled, we each take a drachma, if you need, we contact (Y/N) for support." She said. with everyone's agreement, (Y/N) stood up. "In that case, I need a nap." He said, shoving past Leo to disappear into his room.
Hazel was clearly uncomfortable. She had even more nervous energy than he did. "We'll get the bronze and the lime. We can all meet back here by dark." Frank scowled. Obviously, he didn't like the idea of Leo going off with Hazel.
For some reason, Frank's disapproval made Leo want to go. He had to prove he was trustworthy. He wasn't going to fire any random ballistae again. "Leo," said Annabeth, "if we get the supplies, how long to fix the ship?"
"With luck, just a few hours." "Fine," she decided. "We'll meet you back here as soon as possible, but stay safe. We could use some good luck. That doesn't mean we'll get it."