February, 3rd 2012
I don't own any of the characters, Rick Riordan does!
Beta for this Chapter: None
A/N: I'm back, loyal readers! :3
Ah yeah, almost 3000 words this time. The Greeks are having some trouble here and I really hope it's no bummer for you that you have no Roman chapter XD There's coming one this weekend, no worries. I have enough time, I'll do more chapters. My holidays started now so I'll have a little bit more free time. Though I tend to waste my time on other things xP
Now please enjoy :3
Chapter LV
Leo
If you didn't experience it yet: It sucked not being able to move. Sure, he was proud of himself for taking out that creep of a monster but hey, it still was no piece of cake hearing the others panic and run for their lives while you hang out motionless on Jason's back. Plus, it was kinda embarrassing being taken piggyback by his best friend. Not that anybody cared in this life or death situation but still.
When they reached the plane, Leo was relieved but on the other hand: Who would fly the thing if he was still not able to move a muscle? And was it just his feelings or did the plane feel intruded? Like somebody had been here? But that wasn't possible, right? They had sealed it shut! So Leo quickly shook off the thought.
The fire user wasn't sure if it was a good idea to keep Jason in charge. Not that the son of Hephaestus didn't believe that his best friend could do it. No, he was pretty sure he was able to control a plane just great, even if he didn't try. But the fire user also knew pretty well that the son of Jupiter just masked how tired he was in reality. Honestly, they were probably all ready to drop dead and Jason was sure no different. He had said he would have to pull an all nighter. Leo had done that many times before when he worked on things, helped his mother or ran away. But had Jason? His first time flying and then there were so many risk factors…that certainly wasn't good.
And then there was this force that had stopped them last time…Leo hadn't told the others about it, which he regretted right now. It had been similar to what happened to Festus once. An invisible force had slammed into them and it seemed like everything in the place froze. Leo's best guess was Khione. And that this goddess was still after them somehow had driven him mad but also sad. They had her daughter on board now though, maybe that would help. She was just as beautiful and maybe her presence would keep her mother from crushing them, even if the two weren't on good terms.
Oh yeah, Leo had noticed how Annabeth didn't trust Yuki. Honestly, she had every right not to. The prophecy had warned them about a new friend that would betray them and all. And the other campers had explained to him that this weak-spot-thing was referring to Percy because he was bearing the curse of Achilles and all. So from Annabeth's point of view, this quest must already look devastating as soon as they got the prophecy, not counting all the dangerous situations they got into until now. He had to admit, that girl had guts, if she still agreed on leading this seemingly pointless organization. On the other hand…would she be the one everybody at camp looked up to so much if she wasn't like that, brave, fearless, smart and courageous? From what he heard until now, she and that Percy guy went through pretty much. Honestly. They talked about him the whole time, Leo wondered how the heck he managed to do all that stuff, like, saving the world and all, and still have a girl like Annabeth for a girlfriend. If Leo didn't know that the daughter of Athena was already given to that mysterious hero, he'd certainly think about her. No kidding, she was good looking in another way than the Aphrodite girls and she was smart but also scary at some point. She knew about machines, but not in a get-your-hands-dirty-way his sisters did but the planning side. Leo had seen her study the plans of the Argo II and she had even given them tips. Them, the children of the forge god. And on top of that, the way she worked with a dagger…wicked. Just that.
Nonetheless, he would still go for Khione. Or Yuki. Or Thalia. Yeah, Thalia…he wouldn't even get started about her. Wait, stop. Was that her, coming at him with an Edding? Leo hadn't followed the conversation the other demigods had until now because he was lost in his thoughts –weird enough. Now he probably got the payment for that and for not being able to move. The daughter of Zeus leaned over him, which was the positive side. The negative one was that she began to draw on his face with a permanent marker and he wasn't sure if he liked that. How the monsters would react? Hey, there's a guy with permanent marker on his face, let's at him first, that must taste yummy. Great. Juuust great.
To get back to the actual point: Why exactly did he have to fall for girls out of his league all-the-f**ing-time? It was hard to believe but he was beginning to get sick of it. Was this freaking world full of half goddesses just also as full of girls that paid him no attention and thought of him as something to look down to? What in Hades has he done wrong? Were his jokes not good enough? No, that wasn't possible, his jokes were awesome. But what was it, then?
The son of Hephaestus would have sighed, if that was possible for him. Minutes passed as the others went to sleep or kept whispering among themselves without realizing that Leo could actually hear them. He wasn't exactly able to move, although when the hours passed, it seemed to get a slight bit better. Also, he didn't know if he slept during the time he was motionless, it was hard to tell.
At some point in the night, when Leo had one of his awake moments, Annabeth woke from her restless slumber with a half suppressed scream. The whole time she had been sleeping, she hadn't been able to lie still and since Leo was able to look at her from his awkward position on the couch, he had wondered what caused her so much trouble in her dreams. Her awakening stunned Thalia, who was on a seat next to Annabeth's canapé and she yawned, looking at her best friend.
"What is it, Annabeth?" she asked, obviously still half asleep. Annabeth's grey eyes were still extremely wide and she stared at her friend although it rather seemed like she was staring through her. Finally, she exhaled slowly and lowered her gaze, stroking through her messy blonde hair.
"I…..No, it's nothing, I guess, Thals." Was it just him or was she glancing at Yuki? And why was Thalia so confused by Annabeth's words? The daughter of Zeus had now raised an eyebrow and looked at her friend worriedly. It could be seen on her face that she wanted to say something but she decided against it and stood up even though she couldn't possibly be rested already.
"Alright then. I'll go get my brother some coffee. You should go back to sleep, we won't land any time soon." She yawned again and made her way to the small kitchen in the back of the plane, where she made the said coffee and then went through the seats with her sleeping friends to go to the front of the plane. She seemed pretty uncomfortable while walking through the machine but Leo could see how she tried to get herself together and not show that she was ready to drop as well.
Anyway. Annabeth now looked around and let her feet touch the ground. It was then when the fire user noticed how tired she really looked. In the dim light of the plane and with her little ghost light over her head, he noticed the shadows under her eyes. She obviously thought everybody was asleep –Leo's hair covering his face and his half closed eyes might have helped- because she now didn't mask her expression with a smile or confident gaze any more. The glance she now shot the floor was full or sorrow, worry and so many other things that didn't fit in with her usual behavior. The blonde stared at her hands now and the next moment, she suddenly whipped her left eye and inhaled slowly in an attempt to calm herself. What had she seen in that dream? Leo knew exactly that he wasn't supposed to see this. Nobody was. He would have certainly turned away if he only was able to move. The daughter of Athena didn't go back to sleep though. She picked up her rucksack and wandered out of Leo's field of vision, to the seats further in the back of the plane.
The next hour passed, then another. Leo was slowly able to move again but didn't say anything since the others were asleep. He was able to sit up carefully and massaged his muscles a bit to get them moving again. It would be nice to visit Jason in the cockpit but he was afraid his legs weren't able to carry him just now. So he sat there and looked around. Annabeth was still awake. She noticed him sitting up and smiled at him weakly. If he hadn't seen her breakdown just now, Leo would have been convinced she was perfectly fine.
Leo thought about if it was safe to ask her what she dreamed about but then he realized that it would be stupid to ask for she would know that he watched her then. So he began massaging his legs slowly and watched Thalia come back from the cockpit. Just when Leo tried out if he could stand for the first time, the plane suddenly seemed to run into some kind of wall. Leo fell to the floor, so did Thalia and Annabeth was just in time to grab the back of her seat so she wouldn't fall off. She was the first to stand though, managing to jump up in an almost artistic way and even though they seemed to stand still and the machine made strange noises, bumping up and down all the time, Annabeth was the first one to reach the door to the cockpit.
"Jason, what happened?" she yelled over the noise. In the meantime, the others woke up. Piper as well as Yuki seemed confused, Grover was the only one not to wake because of all the noise. He was just mumbling something about food and grabbed his pillow tighter. The fire user seriously didn't know how he could sleep right now, with the airplane acting up and stuff. Even though his legs barely carried him, Leo crouched over to the door, where he spotted Jason, helplessly hitting buttons on the controls. He just shook his head as an answer to Annabeth, sweat building up on his forehead. That wasn't a good sign…
"Try the manual system, Sparky!" Leo yelled and grabbed the doorframe tighter. Jason nodded, even ignoring the nickname this time. He turned on the switches but unfortunately, even though he tried to get the lever up, it didn't move an inch. Annabeth tried to help him but they now began falling hopelessly. Even though it was better than last time, meaning that their height was slowly falling and they weren't crashing nose first, giving them a tiny little bit more time.
Nothing worked. Leo tried some other things when Annabeth and Jason helped him up. Finally, they looked at each other with panic and the daughter of Athena did the final decision.
"We have to give up the plane. Help me search for the parachutes, we have to go as fast as possible!" Leo and Jason nodded in agreement and as fast as they could in a falling plane (which was frustratingly slow) they got back into the main room. Annabeth shot Thalia a glance, which made the daughter of Zeus shake her head.
"No way in Hades! I'm not doing that, Annabeth, no way!" she had turned green over the few seconds they were falling and looked close to a panic attack. Jason and Leo explained to Yuki, Piper and Grover, who had been woken up by Thalia, what the plan was. They all grabbed their jackets as the son of Jupiter quickly opened the door and a heavy gust of wind let them all grab for something solid. He stretched out a hand to Piper and the girl took it, panic and worry in her eyes.
"Piper comes with me. Leo, you take your shoes. The rest of you get the parachutes." And with that comment, he jumped out like it was nothing, dragging a certainly nervous and screaming Piper with her. Leo nodded, trying to remember what the code name was while Annabeth was handing out the parachutes to everyone else. Finally, she seemed to be annoyed by him and said:
"Maia. Come on, Thalia, you can do it. We have to." Leo's shoes were acting up now, wings growing out and Leo struggled for the door while Grover and Yuki had already jumped. It was difficult, with his still weak legs and all. He turned around to see that Annabeth was dragging a completely green Thalia to the door. The daughter of Athena had her parachute already in her hands but the huntress didn't even grab hers from Annabeth, gulping.
"I-I can't!" she whispered and looked out. They could already see the ground now, it was scary how fast it came closer.
"Well, you better, otherwise we'll be demigod sauce in a few seconds!" he commented stupidly, finally reaching the door. He didn't know what Thalia's problem was, he wanted to help her too but the situation was so full of time pressure and the extremely cold wind in his ears made it difficult to think and act clearly. Suddenly, he leaped out after inhaling for the last time and only heard Annabeth arguing further while the plane got smaller behind him and he was freefalling to the ground below.
He couldn't see properly, the air was freezing and he was waiting for the damn shoes to do their work. By the time he reached the hearing distance of the others, something strange seemed to happen. Yuki was yelling her head off, as well was Grover. They had wanted to open their parachutes but it appeared that those didn't work properly, if not even worse. Leo now saw how the lines were almost cut and would certainly rip soon.
"Jason, the lines! Catch them!" he yelled at the top of his lunges and hoped the son of Jupiter would hear it. Apparently, he had also discovered what was wrong and got himself and Piper –who was resting in his arms comfortably- further up in the air. Piper switched positions and just as Jason had his hands free, the lines gave in and Grover and Yuki were free falling. Jason caught them just in time as Annabeth appeared over Leo's head. She was green in her face as well and looking up to the plane as if missing something, reaching out for it and yelling something Leo wasn't able to make out because of the wind in his ears. Unfortunately though, Annabeth's parachute was not on her back and she was falling to the ground much faster than everyone else, including Leo, whose shoes had slowed him down. Below them, Leo could see vast parts of the Rocky mountains and wondered how they didn't come really far during the night. It was still dark though so probably nobody would see them even though there was a town nearby that he was able to make out to his left.
But for now, he concentrated on Annabeth. He willed the shoes to move up and catch the demigoddess, unluckily with his hands in spots they weren't supposed to be. One of them was her butt and seemingly without thinking, she slapped him across the face with full force. Man, that girl had strength alright. If Leo wasn't so busy holding her, he would certainly be forced to hold his cheek, it was burning up.
"Oh, s-sorry." Annabeth now stammered, obviously still confused by whatever happened in the plane. She looked back up, panic in her grey eyes and Leo tried to lighten the mood by grinning and positioning his hand elsewhere.
"Yeah, it's alright, I get it. Private property of Percy Jackson, huh?" he laughed and even succeeded, Annabeth blushed and looked away but she also smiled slightly. Leo now caught up with Jason, whose face was red from concentration as he was carrying three other people and himself. They were now floating in mid-air about three hundred meters above the ground, which seemed kind of strange. Piper looked at Jason worriedly, grabbing onto his neck and trying to do it so he would still get some air. The son of Jupiter had grabbed the other two by their arms and it seemed to be really difficult to hold them up.
"Jason? Jason, listen? Hey! Calm down, you can do this.." Piper said to him and her expression became more worried with the second. Jason's face was now red as a tomato and he wasn't even able to look up to Leo, just glaring at a spot in the distance, concentrating. Leo noticed the lines under his eyes and how worn out he looked.
Suddenly, Jason relaxed, his eyes closed. He had passed out cold and with him, the three others were now rapidly falling towards the ground while behind them, the plane 'landed' in the mountains, exploding violently.
Dudun. Anyone noticed how Thalia wasn't mentioned? Well, that was my intention. Now think about it... ;P
SO! Please tell me what you think, I wanna know! :3
