A/N: Hi all. In the book, we were with Jason during Leo's big moment. Well, I wanted to know what was going on in his Leo's head when he died! This is Leo's POV from when Nike calls him out and Zeus slaps them back to camp, all the way through to his death.
Disclaimer: NONE of this is mine. Most of it is from the book, including some of the description. I just added a lot and changed some things to make it Leo's POV.
The seven demigods stood with the gods as they discussed what to do, now that they had defeated the Giants. Gaea had awoken, and she was on her way to destroy Camp Halfblood. Leo felt more jittery than ever, and he had an odd sensation like he was running out of time.
"So how can we possibly get to Camp Half-Blood in time to save it?" Frank asked. "It took us months to reach Greece."
"The winds," Jason suggested. "Father, can't you unleash the winds to send our ship back?"
Zeus glowered. "I could slap you back to Long Island."
"Um," Jason looked at his father warily. "Was that a joke, or a threat, or –"
"No," Zeus said, "I mean it quite literally. I could slap your ship back to Camp Half-Blood, but the force involved …"
Leo felt uneasy, glancing at his own father, Hephaestus. The fire god shook his head. "My boy Leo built a good ship, but it won't sustain that kind of stress. It would break apart as soon as it arrived, maybe sooner."
This was it. Leo could feel his big moment approaching. It was time to finally put his plan into action. He almost felt relieved. The wait would be over soon.
Leo straightened his tool belt and took a breath. "The Argo II can make it," he said, more confidently than he felt. "It only has to stay in one piece long enough to get us back to camp. Once there, we can abandon ship."
"Dangerous," Hephaestus warned, giving Leo a stern look. "Perhaps fatal."
Yes Dad, Leo wanted to say. That's kind of the idea.
Leo intuitively glanced at Nike, who twirled a laurel wreath on her finger. She watched him knowingly. "Victory is always dangerous," she spoke evenly. "And it often requires sacrifice. Leo Valdez and I have discussed this."
And there it was. The big green light. It was like she had just handed Leo a dagger along with her permission for him to stab himself in the heart.
"Leo," Annabeth said, "what is Nike talking about?"
Everyone was suddenly watching him. The last thing he wanted right now was attention. Thanks a lot, Nike.
"The usual," he waved it off, putting on a fake grin. "Victory. Sacrifice. Blah, blah, blah. Doesn't matter. We can do this, guys," he tried to sound positive. "We have to do this." I have to do this.
"Leo's right," Jason agreed. "All aboard for one last trip."
The crew gathered on board the Argo II. Leo's heart was stammering at a million miles a minute, as if it knew its beats were limited. "Okay," he addressed the group, trying to focus on what was about to happen. "I've got some heavy-duty, 20-point safety harnesses that we can use to strap ourselves down. We will probably have about thirty seconds max to abandon ship when we arrive, so we have to be efficient."
"I can fly Piper off the deck easily," Jason offered.
"And Frank can carry at least two or three of us as a dragon," Percy said, looking at Frank for confirmation. Frank nodded.
"We can all go below deck," Annabeth said. "We'll be safest there. That way we'll all be close together and we can get off the ship quickly."
"It might be quicker if Jason stays above deck," Piper answered. "I can go below deck with everyone else, and then I'll leave with him right away when we get there."
"So Jason will take Piper, and Frank will take Hazel, Percy, and Annabeth," Leo confirmed.
"What about you?" Jason asked him.
Leo grinned. "I've already got a plan," he said. He handed Jason a harness. "Let's start strapping."
While the others got themselves ready, Leo hopped down to the engine room, trying to remind himself to breathe. He was feeling way too overly conscious of his lungs inhaling and exhaling. Don't think about it, he told himself. "It's a green light, Festus," Leo told the dragon. "Are you ready?"
Festus creaked nervously.
"Come on," Leo grabbed a harness for himself. "First thing's first, we break you free of the ship. Let's worry about part two later."
Festus whirred in anticipation, and Leo climbed back up to the control room. Jason was already strapped to the mast.
"You good?" Leo called to his friend. Jason gave him a thumbs up. Leo put on his harness and strapped himself to the control console. He needed to be ready to keep the entire ship from breaking, long enough so he could get his friends away from the Argo II and he could get himself to the engine room. It will work, he told himself, though it sounded more like a prayer. It will work.
As soon as Giant-Zeus's hand made contact with the ship, the control console exploded. The ship's sails burst into flames, the wood on the deck cracked open, and parts went flying as the ship spun into free fall. Leo's stomach churned, and he suddenly felt light-headed. He immediately began trying to put pieces back together on the smoking panel, but it was hopeless. Festus clicked and whirred.
"I'm coming!" Leo said to the dragon. He was pressing buttons wildly, hoping anything would still be working. "Jason, hurry!" He shouted at his friend, who was still unstrapping his harness. He watched Jason stumble across the deck, and the hatch burst open. Piper and the others climbed out, using a guide rope that they had put up for them to hold onto.
"Go!" Leo yelled at them, almost screeching the word. They only had seconds. The fire was spreading and the deck wouldn't hold up much longer. "Go, go, go!"
Frank swiftly turned into a dragon, grabbed Percy and Annabeth, and Hazel jumped onto his back. They were off, and the ship began plummeting faster. Leo felt dizzy. Festus creaked anxiously again. "I know, I'll be there in a sec!" Leo said to him. You'll make it, he thought desperately as he physically held together the busted control panel. It will work.
Leo heard Buford shouting at them to "move it" – that good, loyal table – and Jason pulled Piper to the ledge.
"Leo, you won't make it!" Jason shouted. "Come with us!"
Dammit Jace – "No! Get out of here!"
"Leo!" Piper tried. She sounded so worried. "Please –"
"Save your charmspeak, Pipes!" He said. His arms were shaking, gripping the control panel with all his might. "I told you, I've got a plan. Now shoo!"
Thank the gods they finally listened. As soon as the two of them were out, Leo leaped through the hatch down to the engine room.
The entire room was flaming. It was so smoky Leo could hardly see. He stumbled until he found the body of the dragon, and then strapped his harness tightly to the metal. He reached up to the release lever on the ceiling, closed his eyes, and pulled.
The explosion was so loud he thought his ears would burst. He gripped the dragon's back and opened one eye. There was blue sky.
Leo let out a breath. They were soaring upward through the air. Festus's mechanical wings were moving powerfully, and the dragon whirred. "Yes!" Leo exclaimed in relief. He looked at the ground below him. His smile dropped when he saw the flaming, crumbled ship scattered across the hillside. His beautiful ship, that he had dreamed up so long ago, was gone.
Leo tried not to linger on it. It was time to start part two: Defeat Gaea, and die.
"Okay Festus," Leo tried not to let his voice shake. He turned the dragon back towards camp. "Now, we destroy that evil woman who ruined my life, and then we go home."
Leo closed his eyes, trying to calm his nerves. He imagined Calypso's bright smile and her hair glowing bronze in the sunlight. He could almost hear the waves crashing against the beach, and the sound of her joyous laugh.
Home. He was going to go home.
Leo flipped open the access panel in Festus's neck, where the astrolabe hummed steadily. The crystal hovered in the center of the device, balanced by a strong force-field that Leo had created with electric wires. He still did not know exactly what the crystal would do when – or if – he found Ogygia again.
It will work, he tried to tell himself once more. He would get back. He had to get back. Dying was just part of the plan. One step in the process of reaching his ultimate goal.
He opened another hatch, where a needle injector was hooked to a wire that ran into the internal body of the dragon.
His cure.
It will work, he chanted again. He couldn't afford to think otherwise.
Festus clicked in Morse Code.
"I know I can trust you, buddy," Leo answered. "I trust you more than anyone in the world."
Festus clicked again, and Leo grinned. "Shut up," he said. "That's different."
Camp Halfblood came into view, and it was quite the sight – Roman ranks fighting in an orderly fashion against the monster army, and the Greeks slashing and battling right along side them. They seemed to be doing pretty well, until suddenly –
The earth rippled.
Literally, the entire ground looked like a giant wave, and it knocked people off their feet. The air went silent.
AWAKE, a voice boomed.
At the crest of the next hill over, the grass and soil swirled upward like the point of a massive drill. The column of earth thickened into a twenty-foot-tall figure of a woman.
Dirt Face herself.
"Little fools," Gaia opened her pure green eyes, her voice echoing over the valley. "The paltry magic of your statue cannot contain me."
Leo spotted the Athena Parthenos on the opposite hill, where demigods fought to protect the camp. The statue had a magical aura radiating around it, but apparently the magic could only hold back the goddess for so long.
There was a fearful hush that washed over the demigod army.
"Stand fast!" Piper shouted, her charmspeak clear and loud. "Greeks and Romans, we can fight her together!"
Gaia laughed. She spread her arms and the earth bent towards her – trees tilting, bedrock groaning, soil rippling in waves. Demigods and monsters started to sink into the ground.
It was time to act.
"Let's go Festus," Leo said, filled with a renewed determination. "However it happens, just…" He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Don't let me fall."
And the dragon swooped down towards where Gaea stood on the hill.
"The whole earth is my body," she boomed. "How would you fight the goddess of –"
Festus grabbed the goddess from behind with his metal claws and they soared back up into the air.
She screeched in surprise, struggling to break free of Festus's grip. Okay, that was fun, Leo grinned. They carried her up higher into the sky.
"Pipes! Jason!" Leo shouted to his friends. "Are you coming? The fight's up here!"
Gaea was starting to become heavier. What? Was she turning to stone or something? Leo lit up his hands as Festus struggled to keep his hold. Thorny vines weaved around the dragon's feet and climbed up his legs.
"How does it feel to be powerless, Dirt Face?" Leo shouted. He threw a flaming fireball and she screeched.
"YOU INSOLENT FOOL!" She cried defiantly. Leo snickered.
She started to crumble. Literally. She was disintegrating into sand, trying to fall back to the ground. Festus sprayed fire at her, which temporarily forced her back into solid form. "Potty Sludge!" Leo shouted, throwing another fireball at her. "Dirt Face!" His anger was building. This was the son-of-a-b*tch that killed his mother. "THIS IS FOR MY MOTHER, ESPERANZA VALDEZ!" He erupted into flames.
He began shooting flame after flame at the gooey piece of dirt. Jason had joined them, with Piper at his side, and he was helping to keep the earth mother aloft with the wind.
"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" Gaea insisted. "I AM ETERNAL!"
"Eternally annoying," Leo muttered bitterly. He and Festus continued rising higher in the air.
Leo peered through the flames that engulfed him, and saw Jason inching Piper closer to the goddess.
"FOOLISH CHILDREN!" Gaea cried. Whiny, whiny, Leo thought. Quite the drama queen, this one was.
"You are so weary," Piper began to charmspeak in the goddess's ear. "Eons of pain and disappointment weigh on you."
"SILENCE!" Gaea exclaimed in anger. She began falling out of Festus's grip. Jason and Piper began falling too, but the dragon quickly grabbed the two of them with his other claw.
"Millennia of sorrow," Piper continued. "Your husband Ouranos was abusive. Your grandchildren, the gods, overthrew your beloved children, the Titans. Your other children, the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed Ones, were thrown into Tartarus." Piper's charmspeak was very effective, and Leo almost felt sympathy for the goddess. "You are so tired of heartache."
Leo's heart wrenched. He closed his eyes, and for a moment he was back on Ogygia, watching Calypso's elegant, beautiful hands weave threads across her loom, her eyes glinting in the candle light –
"LIES!" Gaia boomed, snapping Leo out of his daydream. She crumbled into a tornado of soil and grass, and Leo forced Festus to carry her even higher above the clouds.
"What you want," Piper continued gently, "more than victory, more than revenge … you want rest. You are so weary, so incomprehensibly tired of the ungrateful mortals and immortals."
"I – YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR ME – YOU CANNOT –"
"You want one thing," Piper said soothingly. "One word. You want permission to close your eyes, and forget your troubles. You – want – SLEEP."
Leo's eyes drooped. He almost collapsed onto his face, before wrenching himself back into focus. This wasn't over yet. He increased the fire surrounding his body and reminded himself what he was doing all of this for. He gritted his teeth. Fire. Lots and lots of fire.
The goddess had gone limp in Festus's claws. The dragon was steaming too. Leo felt like he was going to combust on the inside as well as the outside. The flames were building inside of him, and all of the anger and resentment he felt towards this horrid earth woman fueled the flames.
"Leo!" Piper called to him. "We only have a few seconds. My charmspeak won't – "
"I know," Leo said. He felt strangely calm. He knew what he needed to do. He knew that this was the end. He knew that all of it would be worth it. "I can't contain the fire much longer," he told Piper. "I'll vaporize her. Don't worry. But you guys leave."
"No!" Jason said stubbornly. "We have to stay with you. Piper's got the cure. Leo, you can't –"
"Hey." Leo smiled. He could always count on Jason to be steadfastly loyal. "I told you I had a plan. When are you going to trust me?" He looked at his friends, their faces both so worried for him. He suddenly knew that he would really be missed. If this somehow didn't work out… "And by the way," he added, just in case. "I love you guys."
Before they could protest anymore, He opened Festus's claw and they fell through the clouds.
Concentrate, Leo closed his eyes. He focused on the flames, making them hotter and hotter, letting them flow from him, through the dragon, and into the heart of Gaea. His own heart was pounding, and he knew that any second it would stop. He could feel the fire filling his insides, burning his core. There was so much smoke in his lungs it became hard to breathe.
It's okay, he thought. It's okay.
He let his mind drift back to Ogygia, to the brilliant sunset, and the peaceful forest, and the starry sky. He thought about her laugh, and her eyes, and her smile. He remembered the warmth and strength of her hands, and the way they gripped his hair when she kissed him on the beach. He recalled her soft lips and the smell of cinnamon consuming his senses. He imagined the sadness, and the anger, and the fear in her eyes when he left.
I'm coming home, he promised. I'm coming home.
The last thing Leo remembered was a high-pitched scream and a bright orange light, before everything went dark.
A/N: Please Please Please Review! I love when people talk to me about my headcanon!