Here's an updated version of Facing You. There will now be actual plot, not just a vague feeling of one. Enjoy.

Part One:

Chapter One

Everything Falls Apart

/ "One year, you two have one year then you can never be with the other again." /

/ Never be with the other again /

/ One year /

Leo couldn't decide who he hated more, her or the gods. He didn't really hate any of them, but it made it easier if he told himself he did. He probably would pick the gods, after all they gave him a year but then took three from him in the end. (Did that mean he never really had a year?) Deep down though, he'd choose her. She had chosen freedom over him. Not that Leo would have wanted her to stay on that island forever, but sometimes he wished she had put up more of a fight. For him, for whatever it was between them. In the end it was just him, fighting for something she was too willing to give away.

/ "We gave you a year. That's all you were given, young hero. I told you my help came with a price; this is the price you paid. Stop fighting it Leo Valdez, this is your fate. /

/ We gave you a year. /

/ This is the price you paid. /

/ Stop fighting it. /

/ This is your fate. /

He missed Festus. His golden dragon was hiding from him somewhere in the forest outside Bunker Nine. (No one else has to deal with their pet dragon shunning them.) Leo really needs to go out and apologize to the mechanical wonder, but that would involve picking himself up from his heartbroken stupor to do so. That was the last thing the nineteen year old wanted to do. It would mean facing things (emotions, memories, people) he wasn't ready to face. Right now he was happy drinking and sleeping away such things.

Leo hardly cared that he hadn't showered in a week, or that his clothes had not been washed in weeks. He hadn't left the bunker in a month. His friends were out there waiting for answers, ones that he didn't want to give. To them, he had been gone for three years, it only felt like one really long year to him. (Time ran different on Calypso's island, something the gods conveniently forgot to mention.) Then again maybe he should have remembered, but with everything that happened since he left her island it should be understandable that he didn't.

He came back a changed man, he already had missed out on three years of his friend's lives and Leo couldn't find his place back in them. (He wasn't the only one who changed.)

Maybe if he hadn't been so broken he couldn't have settled in nicely, unfortunately that wasn't the case. Calypso broke him. Even if it was never her intention, it still happened. (How do you tell someone that the woman who said she loved you, loved her freedom more, without letting go of your pride?) His pride was all he is left, and even if there wasn't much to take pride in, Leo had no intention of letting it go.

His pride didn't stop him from hurting. (Or thinking.) So Leo drank in a desperate attempt to not feel (to forget) everything for the short time his blood allowed. He had learned that the fire that burned within him would burn away any drug or poison put in his body. That included alcohol. It just took it longer when it came to liquor.

Just as long as he could be numb to the overwhelming ache in his chest, (even for a little while) he didn't care that he was drinking himself to death.

/ "You came back for me, Leo, no one had ever done that. You love me like no one has before. I will always remember that and I will always love you Leo; always." /

/ I will always remember. /

/ I will always love you Leo. /

/ Always. /

The sound of glass breaking pulled Leo out of his head. (So much for not thinking) He had dropped the bottle of tequila he was drinking from. It was half full, and now all over the floor. It covered the blueprints and odd scraps of paper and metal that littered the ground.

He could already feel the heat of his power burning away at the alcohol induced haze he was falling into. Leo could easily pick up the last bottle of alcohol from it's place beside the chair he was curled in. (Smuggled in after the last time Leo left camp to wander the streets of New York.) Instead Leo chose to let the buzz fade away. As much as he wanted to waste away, he wanted to do something more with his life. (He still had his pride.)

/"You came back."/

/"I will always love you."/

/"This is the price you paid."/

/"Stop fighting your fate."/

/"Always"/

With much effort Leo moved his aching body up and out of his chair. He spared a brief look at the mess he made of the bunker before he left for his cabin. His body was weak from burning away the alcohol (and sickness) so he barely made it to his bed before he passed out. (So much for his pride.)

Please feel free to give me your thoughts and opinions about this chapter. Thanks for reading!

-Haley