Leo walked back into the bunker, late that night. All his cabin mates were in bed dreaming of how they would build his majestic shop.
It was always quiet in the bunker. Having so many people in there before felt like a disgrace to its memory. But it was also a blessing. As hard as this would be he needed his cabin mates. It both excited and scared him that he would be working on such an amazing project and scared him as well, knowing he would be relying on others.
In the dead silence of the bunker he closed his eyes and smiled. Then he heard the noise. It was tiny, almost unnoticeable by any who want listening carefully. THe sound wasn't of footsteps or another living being moving around in any way. No, it sounded like a clink on metal. It was almost like someone was flicking the inside of a fishbowl.
"Hello?" Leo called.
Instantly he felt like an idiot. People in horror movies called 'hello' and they were usually the one who ended up dead. Fiddling with something in his pocket he followed the sound of the tapping until he reached a larger room. This room could fit at least three big houses in it, metal wind rooster things and all. He rounded the room, staying on the edge, wondering if some age old monster was trying to get out of one of the rooms.
Again feeling like a moron he called out. This time the tapping increased, now like the sound of a hand on the inside of a fishbowl. It continued again and again but he couldn't locate the source. The echo made it seem like it was coming from everywhere at once.
"Where are you?"
This time a voice answered. "I'm in here!" this time he could tell where it was coming from; the center of the room.
"So are you a monster or a really lost nymph?" he summoned his hammer, walking toward the center of the room.
"I'm neither," her voice wasn't offended but it was stern as if she couldn't believe he could think of something. And the voice was a she the tone was young but the actual voice echoed too much for him to tell how old she was.
"So what are you?"
"I'm not sure," she mused. "I used to be something else but now I'm human."
Leo was conerned now. This chick was starting to scare him.
"Where are you?" he asked again.
"In here!" she sighed.
"Where's 'here'?" Leo was frazzled and this mystery had only lasted a few minutes.
"Well..." he could hear her stop, trying to gage her surroundings. "it's gold."
"That narrows it down," Leo muttered sarcastically. 99% of the room's contents were some kind of gold.
"And it's big... and it smells a bit like tabasco sauce."
"What?" Leo ran to the head of his dear dragon and took a big whiff. Tabasco sauce.
"Yea," she giggled, the sound echoing from extremely nearby. "Tabasco sauce inside a gold container."
She sounded right next to him and Leo ran a hand across the top of the decapitated head. "Knock again," Leo struggled for words.
She did and the head vibrated. How had she gotten inside Festus? Leo could barely lift the thing with three other cabin mates let alone open the locked jaw.
"You sound close," the girl spoke. "Are you there?"
"Yea," he dropped his hammer and went to work on the side of Festus's head, trying unhinge the jaw. "Do you have any idea how you got stuck in there?"
"I'm not quite sure. I was back in my old body, I was protecting someone then I'm not sure. I ended up here in this container."
"It's not a container," Leo felt his heart squeeze tighter. "It's a head. A dragons head."
"Yes..." the girl trailed off. "I think it is."
"Ok," Leo was scared but determined to fix this. With a finally click of gears the jaw dropped open and a small figure tumbled out. She was wearing a simple greek tunic, held together with thick rope.
"Woah!" She gasped, falling on top of Leo. "I'm so sorry!" she rounded up her long skirt and got off of him.
"Woah..." agreed Leo as the girl looked up. She had a thick mass of dark hair that cascaded down her back, intertwined with golden braids. Her skin was tan with and almost shimmering bronze quality to it. But her eyes were what struck him the most, huge and a deep amber tone that glinted gold in the faint electric lights.
"Are you alright?" she asked, tilted her head.
"Oh!" Leo nodded. "Yea," he extended a hand to her and she took it, legs wobbling. She tipped over crashing into him as he caught her.
"I'm so sorry," she apologized again staring straight into his eyes.
"No problem," Leo steadied her.
"I know this is going to sound strange..." she said. "But I know I've seen you before." Leo had to suppress the urge to use one of his choice pick up lines and tilted his head. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Leo," he held out a hand. "Leo Valdez."
She gasped. "Leo!" and with that she flung her arms around him. "I can hug you now! Isn't that great?"
"Woah, woah, woah," he pushed her back as much as he didn't want to. "Who are you?"
"I don't really have a name..." she mused. "Or I had lots of names... I'm not sure. But you," she grinned at him. "You called me... happy! No that wasn't it. Festus. That means happy in Latin. The blonde boy told you that." She looked happy for remembering.
Leo stumbled at the word. "Festus?"
"Yes!"
"Like, my dragon, Festus?"
"I was never your dragon. But I suppose I am now..." she paused, tapping her chin. "No. I'm not a dragon anymore I'm a person!" She squealed with glee. "I'm a person! A girl to be precise!"
Leo tried to wrap his head around it. "So if you're Festus what happened to you?"
The girl's eyes became down cast. "I'm not really sure. It's all blurry. I was damaged but you repaired me. Then I saved you and got chopped to bits..." Leo winced at the memory. "I know the god Hephaestus moved me here. Then it got fuzzy. I remembered seeing a goddess. She granted me this human form."
A goddess? Why would anyone do that?
"Which goddess?" Leo asked.
"I'm not sure..." the girl stamped her foot. "I really don't like not knowing."
"But if you're Festus what should I call you?"
"Isn't Festus a good name anymore?"
"No!" Leo defended. "It's just– it's not really a girl's name is it?"
"I suppose not..." she thought for a moment. "You named me before can't you do it again?"
Leo looked at her sweet face and tried not to get lost in it. It was as if someone had dug deep in his brain and created the perfect girl for him. She even had the small line of freckles across her nose that his mom had had. He shook his head. 'Focus.' He told himself.
"Well...!" She hopped on her feet, looking him straight in the eye. She had so much joy in her and Leo remembered something his mother had said about him a long time ago.
'And let felicity burn bright in your heart mi hijo!'
"Felicity!" Leo blurted.
"Oh!" the girl smiled. "That's great!"
"You sure you like it?"
"Of course!" she hugged him again and this time Leo hugged back. She was smaller than he was by a few inches and a bit thinner as well, leaving room for him to throw his arms around her.
Felicity let go, almost jumping with joy. "So what happens now?" Leo asked. But before she could answer a voice rang from the front doors.
"Leo?" It was Nyssa.
"Gods..." Leo chuckled, taking Felicity's hand. "Do you want to meet Nyssa?"
Felicity's huge amber eyes became scared. "Isn't she the one who tried to capture me and take me apart?"
"I promise she's nice." Leo smiled.
"Alright!" She skipped along after him as Leo walked back into the main room.
"Leo!" Nyssa smiled. "I've been meaning to talk to you about the back engine. I've got the screws you asked for–who is that?" she interrupted herself as she saw Felicity.
"This is Felicity!" Leo introduced.
"Hi!"
"Who is she and where did she come from?" Nyssa came closer, inspecting the thin girl in her oversize toga.
"She is– or was– Festus."
"Hi!" the girl greeted again, bouncing on the balls of her heals.
"You're kidding," Nyssa asked, turning to Leo. "She can't be."
"I'm not," Leo was almost as excited as Felicity. "She said so herself and Festus's control disk reads missing consciousness. Something I swear on the river Styx was there last night."
Nyssa shook her head. "In a world of Gods and monsters who knows anything anymore." She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Felicity, I'm Nyssa."
I'm not sure if this will ever continue. This is just one in my universe of one shots that are being transferredfrom old files
