Well, hello there. my deepest apologies for once again being a piece of sentient garbage and leaving you all hanging for almost a month with no new chapter. My life has been, for lack of a better term, fucking nuts. I've been battling with so many disasters on the daily, including my closest friend coming down with covid, that this story had to be shifted to a back burner for a few weeks. I have yet to work out a schedule for new chapters being posted, as I am a full time student with a job and many many responsibilities outside the realm of fiction.I also wanted to make it known that I'm going to make this much more accurate to the books. Enough of my rambling, onto the story.(Are disclaimers still a thing? If so, I'm not Rick Riordan, I just snatch his characters and throw them into my own plots that are the result of melatonin induced fever dreams.)
Leo stood, swaying slightly in the cool breeze. Alone, as usual, and tired, which was also quite usual as of late. The other six demigods were no doubt in their cabins, snuggling with one another, sleeping, or talking about the prophecy, or playing tonsil hockey, or whatever disgusting things teenage demigods did when stuck in the ass with one of cupid's arrows. (Had they all been shot by cupid?, Leo wondered silently. That would certainly explain the glazed looks into each others eyes.)
The day had consisted of Leo tossing ideas around in his head about the prophecy, all while staying awake to make sure that nothing happened to his precious ship. The Argo was his pride and joy, as Frank had so coldly pointed out when he, Leo, and Hazel had enjoyed their lovely visit with the strange but brilliant brownie connoisseurs, the fish centaurs, after the ship had been attacked by shrimpzilla. To be quite fair, Frank had a point. Leo did love the ship. But more than his friends? Definitely not.
Ever since the attack by the vicious sea creature, Leo had barely slept. He was exhausted and had stopped eating. Even before the attack, there had been little time to stop working, even when he'd had an appetite. Lately he had taken to drinking coffee, except he didn't like the taste. So he added copious amounts of milk and sugar to make it tolerable, which did nothing for his ADHD. His head swirled with thoughts, each as fleeting as the last, and his focus was about as sharp as a melted crayon.
As he stood at the helm, steering the ship, he became vaguely aware of a presence. He didn't feel threatened, exactly, but he definitely felt as though someone or something was trying to get his attention. He turned and immediately almost released the sugary contents of his bladder.
"Um, hi." His voice was embarrassingly squeaky, like a dog toy that had just been stepped on.
"Hello, Leo Valdez." Her voice was clear and calm, like she knew she frightened him, to which Leo though, 'Well duh'.
Before him stood a tall, dark haired woman in a black pantsuit and black pointed heels, which struck him as odd. But then again, who was he to yuck someone else's yums? He himself regularly looked like a scrawny elf with a seemingly empty tool belt. She radiated an energy that Leo couldn't place. He imagined she was what most lawyers thought they were, calm and intelligent, with eyes that seemed as old as the gods.
"Yes, Leo. That is right. I am Dike, goddess of justice." She said, as though she knew what he was thinking, which she probably did.
"Uh- sorry.. is there like- I mean what can I- um.. Like do you-?" 'Dios mio', Leo thought to himself, 'Get it together, Repair Boy.'
Dike watched him trip over his words, and waited for his sputtering to stop. When he finally fell silent, she smiled.
"I am here to help you." She said.
"Help me?" Most gods' or goddesses' idea of help was really just enlisting free demigod labor with the promise of nothing in return. Dike seemed to follow Leo's train of thought.
"The others, they do not appreciate you. They do not know you. I will change that." Leo barely had time to absorb this information before she was gone. He blinked and the space where she stood was empty. The other, appreciate him? Very funny, he thought. Nice one, Olympus. Nobody on the ship would ever truly think of Leo as an equal. He would forever be left out, the seventh wheel.
But as Leo continued to steer the ship through the dark, her words were branded in his mind. He entertained the possiblity that the other six demigods might one day know the pain he had been through, and the love he felt for them even though they continuously left him out. He frowned to himself.
"There's no point in wishful thinking." He said out loud. Festus creaked curiously, wondering what Leo was on about.
"Don't worry about, buddy. It's nothing." But he still heard her voice echoing in his mind.
The others. They do not appreciate you. They do not know you. I will change that.And so she would.