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Chapter 36 – I love you

LEO

Leo had no idea what was going on, but suddenly there were monsters everywhere. It seemed like they had popped out of nowhere.

"RUN!" He heard Jason yell somewhere behind him. Leo grabbed Hazel's arm and dragged her with him.

Leo tried his best to not trip and fall over the pieces of the old Parthenon that was lying everywhere. His skin crawled, and he could feel the power from the House of Hades and the Parthenon mingle together and make the air thick with magic.

"W-What's happening?!" Hazel stuttered. "Leo?!"

"I don't know…" Leo said genuinely. He had only one goal; not letting Hazel get hurt.

Leo turned around and searched for any familiar faces between all the monsters. He caught a glimpse of Coach Hedge once, but he was gone before Leo could call for him. The beasts were looking for the demigods, throwing rocks and other things they found on the ground, roaring and breathing fire. Fear crawled up in Leo's throat.

More monsters were coming out from the House of Hades, each one more horrible and ancient. The Doors of Death, Leo thought. They're coming straight from Tartarus.

"We have to turn back!" Hazel screamed to Leo. She had seen it too. "We have to close the Doors and save Percy and Annabeth!"

Leo opened his mouth, but he didn't get to respond. Hazel suddenly stumbled over something and fell to the ground, dragging Leo with her.

He noticed that his palms were rasped and bleeding. His pants had been scraped by the knees, and he was bleeding there too. Hazel was lying next to him, breathing heavily and trying to rise to her feet.

Leo struggled to get up, but he stopped and his eyes widened. Hazel stared at him.

"Uh-oh." He gulped. "Not good. Not good at all."

Hazel looked confused. She tried to rise again, but she eventually realized something was holding her back. She turned her head to see what was holding her down, and choked-

"Is that plants?" She asked Leo incredulously. "It's not even earth anywhere around here! How…?"

"It's earth everywhere. We just can't see it right here." Leo grumbled. "It's Gaea."

Hazel struggled and tried to get her foot out of the plants. Leo could feel them slowly crawling and wrapping around his legs, killing every chance of rising to his feet again.

"Don't fight them." Leo said and gritted his teeth. "It won't slow them down."

Hazel quickly stopped moving. They just lied there for a moment, and Leo thought he never had felt more pathetic.

"We have to kill them someway!" Hazel said desperately. "Fire?"

Leo concentrated. He thought of hot flames dancing over his whole body, but it was like the plants knew what he was trying to do. They quickly crept up to his back and wrapped themselves around him really hard, almost cutting off the blood circulation. Leo made strangled sound of pain.

"Leo?" Hazel nervously asked.

"I-I can't set fire on them." He said hoarsely. "I'm sorry."

Hazel didn't answer him. Leo felt the plants slowly crawling up his arms, tying his them together.

I don't want to die this way, Leo thought angrily. I don't want to die helpless like this, while seeing my girlfriend suffer next to me.

He turned his head to look at Hazel, and was caught by surprise. She had tears in her eyes and was angry-looking, struggling to keep the plants off her shoulders.

"Hazel, are you okay?" Leo asked uncertainly. It was a lame question to ask while they were dying, but she was crying.

"No!" She said angrily. "It's my fault. I got us in to this mess. If I hadn't tripped-"

Leo chuckled a little.

"How can this be your fault? It's Gaea's fault, Hazel. You haven't done anything wrong." He said in his most soothing voice. Leo hated seeing her like this.

"It is my fault!"

"Believe me, it's not."

Hazel glared at him.

"I've tried to tell you that about your mother's death since I've met you, but you still won't believe me. So stop saying I should believe you about this."

Leo stared at Hazel in surprise. She looked away and muttered under her breath while struggling against the plants.

"If I hadn't tripped we would never have been attacked by this plants, now we're going to die, I'll literally be the cause of my boyfriend's death, Percy and Annabeth will-"

"I love you." Leo blurted out.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew they were true. Leo Valdez loved Hazel Levesque. She was about the only thing that mattered in this stupid, miserable world. She was his everything, and it was important that she knew how much she meant to him.

Then, Leo actually realized what he just said. And, of course, that was the right moment to burst in to flames.

"Leo!" Hazel screamed.

The plants quickly let go of Leo and sunk back in to the earth. He sat up and stared at his (now not burning anymore) hands in awe. Angry red marks were left where the plants had tied him up and his palms were still bleeding, but at least he was free.

"L-Leo!" Hazel gasped.

Leo turned so fast that he got dizzy. The plants had wormed around Hazel's throat, and her face was red in the need of air.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry!" Leo said, immediately summoned fire in his hand and touched the plants. They let go of Hazel as soon as the heat reached them, jumped back in to the earth as fast as they could.

Leo forced his fire to die and helped Hazel up on her feet. He kind of hoped Hazel had forgotten what he had said, but even if she had, the deep red blush on Leo's cheeks would surely remind her.

Hazel raised her head and tried to lock eyes with Leo, but he kept his eyes on his hands. He could still feel how red his face was.

"Leo…" Hazel hesitated.

Then she tipped his chin up and kissed him hard on the mouth. At first, Leo was too surprised to answer the kiss, but then his numb lips started to move together with Hazel's. And in that moment, time stopped, all chaos around them faded to nothing and the only thing that mattered was how close they were and their lips pressed together.

Hazel pulled away a few centimeters and leaned her forehead toward Leo's. She was smiling broadly.

"I love you too." She whispered, and Leo suddenly felt like he just jumped in a hot bathe. Warmth washed over him, and for a second he almost thought he had caught fire again. Luckily, he hadn't.

"THERE YOU ARE!"

A loud voice interrupted them, and Leo and Hazel jumped at least three meters. Nico was running toward them, covered in monster-dust and cuts here and there.

"We have to close the Doors now, all the others are already waiting outside the House of Hades, you have to hurry if we'll have a chance at saving Percy and Annabeth-"

Leo's eyes widened and he felt panic wash over him. Everything around him suddenly became sharper, and he could hear exactly every roar and every scream the monster caused. Shivers went down his spine.

Hazel was pale and she clasped Leo's hand really tight.

Nico's eyes had a lost and desperate look, a little like he had looked when they just found him in Rome.

This is bad, Leo thought bitterly before he and Hazel followed Nico.

Pretty short, I know. Sorry :( Review?