People in the European countries are experiencing difficulties. The once brilliant, deep blue sky turned grey. Storms, hurricanes, and impossible weather spread throughout the country. Earthquakes weren't uncommon either, but the one things most people worry about is the ship in the sky.
"It's just an airplane." An Italian maid assured her son.
"Who would try to fly in this weather?" Her son replied, his eyes fixed on the fleeting shape across the swirling sky.
All and all, there was no happy camper. Summer, the biggest tourist season, was canceled due to some accidental clouds.
Up in the sky, Leo Valdez knew that there was no accident.
He sat in the control room, Wii controller in hand. He could hear the voice of his laughing friends. Piper McLean and Jason Grace, the beautiful couple who belonged on a poster card for Paris, France, wearing stylish berets and riding along the beautiful plains. Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque, slightly awkward, but so trusting, leaning against each other, a fabric drawstring bag tied at Frank's hips.
Once upon a time, Leo secretly wished to be the one at Hazel's side, her golden hair flying in the air, and her jewel eyes gleaming at his jokes. She was still beautiful, and that thought would've sent Leo into a bundle of guilt, now, he sees her as nothing more than a sister.
He flicked his eyes back onto the scene, beautiful mountains that surrounded Greece, the homeland of the gods, his home, if you think about it. no demigod had returned home in centuries.
First time for everything, he thought. First birthdays, first tragedy, first quest, and first kiss…
His grip hardened on his controller. At the same time, a clutter of sounds can be heard by the door.
"Oops." He said, "Sorry man."
"That took me a month to make." Leo said bitterly. Oh, is this who he is now? Rude and not happy? He shook his head out of his mind, concentrating on putting up the mask that he worked hard to perfect over the last few days, "It's alright."
Percy Jackson glanced at the vase he knocked over, and carefully replaced it on the side table, "We need to talk."
"If you're breaking up with me, I've just to tell you that it's rude to end it when the other person's navigating." Leo said, trying to keep the venom out of his voice, of course, it succeeded when it came to Jason and Piper, Hazel and Frank, and even Annabeth Chase. The moment the son of Poseidon smiles, Leo wants to kick him in the face.
"Annabeth's on lookout, we should be alright for a while." Percy pulled up a chair, "We need to talk."
"If you're going to say it's not you, it's me, I might just have to kick you off board."
"Leo."
He had nothing to say.
"Piper mentioned you disappeared for a while," Percy started, still looking at Leo's turned back. The son of Hephaestus refused to look at him, "Jason noted you got new clothes, and Frank said you jumped when he said her name. I know where you were."
"So what?" He finally snapped, "What?"
Percy sighed, "About this, I know you feel like you've hurt her."
"No." Leo defied flatly, "You hurt her, I'm the only one that promised to go back."
"What?" Percy stared. Leo kept his eyes on the horizon, not dare looking at his probably dumbstruck expression, "You're going back?"
"Since you didn't." He said lightly, though he felt his fingertips warming, the first sign of him possibly combusting into fire. It didn't sound bad, burning the son of Poseidon, Savior of Olympus, Terrible Boyfriend.
"No, I couldn't." Percy reasoned (that was a first, Leo noted), "No one finds Ogygia twice, and I've asked the gods to free her."
"Whatever." When what Leo wanted to say was excuses.
"Leo, you can't go back for her." Percy said, obviously Hephaestus's son wasn't convinced, "If I could, why do you think I'm still here?"
"Annabeth?" Leo replied coldly, "Your mother? Grover? Camp Half-Blood? Your friends?"
"You've got friends too." Percy assured.
"You've never been a third wheel!" Leo finally turned. Against the burning sun he probably looked like flame, and he felt like it too. Percy finally saw his burning eyes, his tired skin, and most of all, his empty expression. "Scratch that! Seventh wheel!" He almost screamed, "You know why you didn't go back for her Percy? You know why you didn't even bother to check if the gods made good on their promises? You were busy. Too busy with your girlfriend, and family, and your friends. You've never been left out! You were never the second choice!"
"Leo."
"I'm not as powerful as you or Jason." Leo continued, his brain panging with headache of anger but he continued, "Not as strong as Frank, magical as Hazel, unnerving as Nico, persuasive as Piper, or as wise as Annabeth. I'm, I-I'm," He sounded like he was trying to find the perfect word, but Leo already knew whom he was, "I'm a repair boy. Except I'm not fixing anyone else's mistakes, not any more, I'm going back for her."
Percy was quiet for a very long time. The only sound was Leo's own furious breathing, and the wind rushing past Argo II. Leo tried to held his angry gaze, but how could he stand to make eye contact with the boy who hurt her?
"She's angry." Percy finally said, "I would be angry too."
"Don't you dare make this about you." Leo said tensely, "You might be a protagonist in your own story, but you're a villain in her books." And mine.
"And so many others." Percy admitted. He was seventeen, but Leo felt like he was at least twenty when he spoke, "My friends at Camp Half-Blood, Grover, my mom whom I haven't spoken to in a year, Bob and Damseon, even Nico, and all the monsters…"
Percy closed his eyes and winced, as if reliving a horrible memory, and Leo knew that this guy had a lot…still, he wasn't going to be sympathetic, go cry to Annabeth if Percy wanted some pity points.
"When I was, well, down there." Percy said. Leo was surprised, Annabeth was the only one Percy dared to talk about there with. Leo? Probably the last person they'd both consider, "We've met a group of arai. Vicious, but not in the usual way, they give you curses from everyone you've killed."
That sounded horrible, especially since there were so many monsters this guy poked his sword through. Leo knew he was a demigod at age 15, and spent 9 months of it building a boat. Percy killed a fury when he was 12 and untrained.
"Demigods are heroes, they tell us." Percy continued, "But how are murders heroic? Not just killing actually, I got a curse from her."
Leo didn't move. He remembered her face, exactly as when he first saw her. Determined, fierce, and angry, but so broken. She was damaged almost beyond repair, and probably haven't laughed in a long time. From personal experience, Leo knew that laughter one of the better methods of prevention from giving curses.
"It was made on Annabeth, for her to spend the rest of her life, always a foot away from everyone she cared about. Always alone and lonely." Percy explained, "I almost died watching her that way, Annabeth! I love her, but I could've lost her."
"So what are you doing here?" Leo said, crossing his arm. His heart rate seem to beat normally now, but somehow he still felt like combusting, "Why aren't you looking for the gods? Why are you looking for her?"
"Because I can't!" Percy screamed again, "Divine fate, Leo! The Fates have our destinies written out, and they know that no hero can ever go back to Ogygia, ever."
"I can, and I will." Leo promised, "All those could've, should've, and would've, and what ifs don't matter. You're alive and free, while she's angry and trapped. Doing anything is better than doing nothing."
Percy was rendered no words, not uncommon, but this time not because of a fight with Annabeth or charmspoken by Piper. This was the truth that made him speechless.
"I'm not breaking the quest, but I'm not leaving her alone. As soon as Gaea is gone, I'm going back, and I swear on the River Styx."
The conversation was made clear to be over, but neither demigod made a move to leave. The tourists of Europe fussed about the angry weather and the mysterious sightings of a ship, the natives of Greece foresees the storm brewing in the air. In Argo II, the control room, two boy sat, one with his heart as heavy as stone, and the other exhilarating and pumping wild.
I wrote this forever ago in French class. I don't just, just imagining the conversation that would go down with Percy and Leo about Calypso. I tried to make it that neither of them are villains. Really I just love the whole arc with Percy realizing he's been neglecting people. Also, I hope Leo isn't being too over dramatic. It's kind of my first time writing him as a main character.
~turquoiserainlilies