Radoddish- lots of mischief I'll tell ya!
Read94- thanks for the kind words! LOL you guys are being so good at waiting for their reunion and I promise it's coming! Hint- it all comes back to that phone. And I loveeee writing Rosie and Apollo interacting hahaha
Guest- thank you! And yes I hope to update HGAOF a lot more in 2022 glad you like that story as well :) always wishing people could do more loving on that story!
"Leo. Hey, Leo."
Leo warily opened his eyes to find Max looming above him.
"We're out of Fonzies."
Max and Bing had taken a liking to the snack that Leo had grown so sick of. Part of him was grateful for them taking those snacks off his hands, but the other part of him realized it meant their food supply was dwindling...fast.
"Yeah," Bing appeared next to Max, licking his fingers with a guilty look on his face. "Max has no self control."
"Yeah," Max said, rolling his eyes. "That's what happened."
Bing giggled, giving Max an affectionate push on the arm. Max pretended to be annoyed, but Leo could detect the slightest of smirks on his face. Despite the snack shortage, they were clearly in high spirits.
He wished he could've said the same for himself. It had been three days since he had that horrible dream about Rosie- three days of him sitting on that information, unsure of what to do or whether to tell Bing and Max about it.
If something happened to Rosie, what was he still doing here?
He pushed that thought out of his head. Getting Max out to the world- that was his focus right now. Rosie was tough, she could handle whatever it was.
"Well," Leo said, standing up and brushing himself off. "If there's anything Festus is good for, it's Fonzie finding."
"Only thing he's good for," Max muttered under his breath, shooting a sideways glance at Festus.
The three of them stopped in a French shop, a cramped shop with the lights flickering overhead. As Max and Bing went off to peruse for Fonzies, Leo went up and down the aisles, figuring it would do them some good to get some veggies and fruits.
Glancing through the store windows, he could see it had started to rain, reminding him of the day he found Max.
The lights suddenly snapped off, and Leo heard the sharp inhale of Bing and Max a couple of aisles over.
He conjured flames as he made his way to Bing and Max.
"Never fear, human blowtorch is here."
"What happened?" Max said, glancing up at the ceiling. Leo noticed the many bags of Fonzies in his arms.
"A storm must be rolling in. If we hurry, I think we can get to the coast- we can reach the ocean."
The Atlantic Ocean was a hurdle that would get them that much closer to home.
"Are you sure?" Bing asked. "Even with the storm?"
"Yeah, come on, Festus thrives off this kind of weather!"
Max's fingers dug into Leo's back sharply, leaning in closer as the rain seemed to get harder. Leo tried to keep his shivering under wraps, tried to keep the guilt of making them travel hidden- the rain was getting worse by the second.
Festus jolted underneath them, and Leo rubbed him comfortingly.
"I know, boy," Leo said, hoping he could hear him over the pounding rain. "I know."
The sky lit up with lightning, and he could hear Max and Bing's shocked gasps.
Once again, probably not the best idea to be flying.
"Leo," Max started. "Are you sure this is-"
Max never got to finish. A giant lightning bolt struck down right next to them, so close that Leo could feel the hairs on his arm stick straight up.
"Holy Manger!" He heard Bing exclaim as Fetus violently shuddered, the three of them being jolted.
"Whoa, boy!" Leo tried his best to steer, gently pulling Festus back on path.
The sky thundered aggressively, as hail now traveled down from the sky.
"We should land!" Max exclaimed, gripping Leo even tighter.
Another lightning bolt struck down, and Festus snapped his tail violently.
"Bing!" Max screamed, suddenly letting go of Leo.
"Maxipedia, what's going on?" Leo yelled, too focused at looking straight ahead, trying to keep them in the sky and from being shish kabob.
"Hellllppppp!" Bing wailed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Leo could see Bing dangling from Festus, being held by Max.
Max's eyes were closed, his face scrunched up in pain. Leo watched as Max's satchel snapped open, his books tumbling out and towards the ground.
This caught Max's attention.
"My books!" He wailed.
Festus was thoroughly freaking out now, as Leo attempted to calm him down enough to land.
Jerky, uncalm dragon= Three flattened pancakes that used to be a satyr and two demigods.
"It's alright, Festus! It's okay!" Leo grunted under the effort of holding him back from going bezerk.
The world lit up again, and Festus started nosediving, steam coming out of his nose.
"I can't- he's slipping!" Max cried.
Bing wailed, and Leo made the split second decision to let go of Festus' reins, grabbing onto Bing's arms.
They continued to plummet, and Leo pulled Max closer, holding the two of them near him.
As Festus roared through the tumbling, Leo wasn't hearing the screams of his companions.
He was hearing Poseidon's voice.
Zeus will find out.
Jason was standing on someone's porch, looking nervous. He knocked sharply at the door. After a second, Piper appeared.
Piper's face hardened.
"Jason, we've talked about this-"
"I'm not here about that, Piper. We're...we're in trouble."
Piper glanced over her shoulder, back into her house. She looked back at Jason.
"My dad and I were about to watch a movie."
"Five minutes," Jason said. "Please. Just hear me out."
"I don't know…" Piper hesitated.
"I know what you said. I know you wanted space. Pretend I'm Rosie or Leo- you'd let them in. You'd hear them out."
Piper's face was wiped clean of emotion.
"Leo is dead," she said in a shaky voice. "And my best friend may never be the same."
Jason's face became sympathetic, and Leo wondered how many talks the two of them had in the past about them...him and Rosie.
"I know," he said. "Five minutes."
Piper sighed. "Five minutes."
Leo came to with a gasp, lying flat on his back. His eyes snapped open, and with a groan, he slowly sat up.
The sky above was clear now; no evidence that a thunderstorm had even happened. But looking down at his own clothes and seeing how drenched they were was proof it had happened.
"M-Max!" He croaked out. "Bing! Is everyone okay?"
"Over here!"
Leo got up with a groan, following the voice that had called out to him.
Festus was the first one he saw, and he eagerly stomped over to Leo.
"You alright, boy?" He asked, patting Festus' snout.
He snorted in response.
Behind Festus was Max, crouching over Bing, who was lying flat on his back.
"Bing!" Leo exclaimed, sprinting over.
"He's okay," Max reassured him as Leo knelt down next to him. "I think, at least."
"Hrgh," An indecipherable noise came out of Bing.
Leo saw that Max had half hazardly patched up Bing's arm. It now laid nestled against his chest.
"I-I think his arm might be broken. Or sprained- I don't know," Max continued in a frantic tone. Max groaned, closing his eyes. "Davidson's Principles and Practices of Medicine- page 237, I can almost see it, there's a jelly stain on the page."
"What?" Leo asked.
"A book I would read for fun- if I still had it-"
"I'm sorry, you read medical textbooks for fun? Why is that not surprising?" Leo mused aloud.
"Gingerbread!" Bing exclaimed, his eyes popping open. "Oh, gosh, my head feels like that time I drank only eggnog for eight days straight- what happened?"
Max coughed awkwardly. "You nearly fell off Festus...in the storm."
Bing's cheeks reddened. "Right. Max, your books- I'm so sorry."
"Sorry for what?" Max brushed him off with a wave of his hand. "It's no big deal."
But Leo could tell it was a big deal- after all, those books were all Max had for years. Sure, he himself had never had a huge love of reading- but he saw what it meant for certain people, like his best friend Jason Grace. For some, books were their only escapes.
"Your arm, however," Max said. "It might be broken...I- I don't know for sure."
"That storm…" Bing shook his head. "I've never been in one like it, what's up with that? It was weird, right?"
Max and Leo's eyes met, and Leo knew that kid was thinking the same thing he was.
"It's happened?" Max asked him, clearly looking for confirmation. "We're at that point?"
That point where Zeus was going to be looking to electrocute them, yes.
"Yeah," Leo confirmed. "He knows."
"What?" Bing asked, his eyes wide. "What are you two talking about?"
"Zeus knows I'm alive," Max said, gulping. "He knows my dad didn't follow his orders and kill me."
Bing paused, not saying anything, his mouth a wide O. Suddenly, his eyes rolled back, and his body went limp.
"Ooh, out again," Leo commented.
"What do we do now?" Max asked quietly.
"Usually, at this point, I come up with another embarrassing nickname-"
"Not with Bing," Max said, rolling his eyes. "With...Zeus."
Leo noticed that whenever Max said Zeus' name, he took a nervous glance at the sky.
"Your dad warned me this would happen."
"Now we're trapped," Max said, gloomily. "We can't fly and if we can't fly, we can't get back to America and we'll never find Rosie-"
"Hey, hey, hey Mini-Reiger," Leo chided. "When will you learn that I got this under control? I told you-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know- you're a fixer," Max rolled his eyes.
"The safest place for us right now is the ocean," Leo said. "There...Zeus can't harm us."
"But...we're not near the ocean."
"Astute knowledge of geography, Maxipedia. Until we reach the ocean...land is our best bet."
Leo stood up, walking over to Festus. He pressed the button, retracting him to his carry-on form. Festus would get a nice rest, it seemed.
"Land," Max stated, raised eyebrows.
"Get out your bucket list because we're taking a train to the coast. It's our only option."
Max gave a small nod. "We take a train." Max's face crumpled. "Leo, what does this mean for the others? For Rosie, Percy?"
Leo felt the fear spread throughout his entire body.
"I don't know."
The three of them hung back from the crowd, waiting to be let on the train. Max was jumping up and down, arms crossed as he tried to stay warm.
Bing had been noticeably quiet since waking up- he had only made three comments about the train resembling The Polar Express.
Leo and Max tried baiting him- easy enough for Max, who had never seen The Polar Express.
"The Desert DMV," Leo said. "I love that movie, don't you, Max?"
Max nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's great that Valentine's Day had its own movie."
Bing said nothing, climbing the stairs into the train car.
"That was a good joke too," Leo said mournfully, shaking his head.
"What are we going to do? I don't know why he's upset."
"It's Bing- he'll bounce back quickly. He's our Jason."
Every quest needed a resident optimist.
"Jason?"
"Er- friend of mine. Son of Zeus."
Max followed him up into the train car. Leo spotted Bing at the end of the aisle, sitting and leaning his head against the window, eyes closed.
"Huh. Well, I'd like to get together with him one day and talk about how much his dad sucks."
Leo laughed. "I'm sure he would agree with you. And...I'm sorry about the books, Max. I know they meant a lot to you."
Max shrugged. "S'okay. I'm getting real experiences now anyways, right?"
Max launched himself into the seats across from and facing Bing, stretching his legs out.
Leo decided he liked trains. The occasional jolting, the whistles, the sounds of the machinery. He busied himself with the sights outside until the sun set.
When night came, most of the people around him had been lulled to sleep, Max being one of them. Leo glanced at Bing out of the corner of his eye. Bing quickly shut his eyes, clearly pretending to be asleep.
"Oh, the weather outside is spiteful," Leo started singing softly under his breath.
Bing shifted almost unnoticeable, eyes still shut tightly.
"But the fire is so prideful."
Bing tensed, his hands becoming fists.
"And since we've no place to go, let it glow, let it glow, let it glow!"
"Are you kidding me?" Bing snapped, eyes wide open.
Leo grinned. "You like my rendition?"
"No, I most certainly do not-"
"Coming up next- Little Hammer Boy."
"You are the antithesis of Christmas."
"Aw, Bing, you got me blushing."
"You're a menace."
"Did you know Bing is a search engine?"
Bing groaned, turning his body towards the window. "We're done here."
"Come on, Bing," he said, his tone now serious. "I'm just messing around. Tell me what's up."
"Nothing," Bing muttered, brushing his eyes.
"Bing," Leo said softly, in almost a pleading tone.
Bing sniffled, his eyes darting over to Max. He exhaled, his entire body sagging with the effort.
Bing scoffed. "I know I'm not important- Max doesn't need a protector."
"That's not true. You've protected us, bro- we would've gotten into some sticky situations without you."
"No...I haven't. You saw me today- I nearly took all of us down during the storm. Max saved me- a demigod saving a satyr, are you kidding me?" He shook his head. "I haven't been a help at all on this quest."
"To be fair, Max isn't like most demigods."
Bing rolled his eyes. "No one needs a protector," he muttered quietly. "No one needs a best friend."
There was that phrase again- best friend. Something Bing seemed to hold so tightly, something he seemed so passionate about.
"Er, Bing? If you don't mind me asking...what's the deal with you and best friends?"
Bing hesitated. "I lied before...when I said I never had demigods."
"Oh."
"I had two: George and Mikey. They were best friends, Leo; thick as thieves. They were practically brothers. I...I had never seen a friendship like theirs. I envied it."
Leo gulped- he knew a thing or two about best friends. He thought of Jason, his best bro. He thought of Rosie and Piper, how in sync those two were.
Bing nervously clenched his hands together. "I failed them, Leo. Mikey...Mikey didn't make it. You should've seen George's face the moment he realized his best friend was gone...pure agony. And I was the one responsible for it...I had always wanted a best friend. And yet...I was responsible for taking someone's away."
"Bing-"
He held up a hand. "I want you to find this best friend of yours, this Rosie. It's the least I can do, bringing two friends back together. I...I want to make up for those mistakes."
He could see the guilt on Bing's face- this had clearly destroyed him.
"I..." Leo sighed. "I didn't tell you the complete truth before. Rosie...she is my best friend. But...I might love Rosie."
Bing groaned, hitting his head against the window.
"That's the best kind of best friend," he said with a hint of jealousy.
He wasn't wrong about that, but Leo felt bad for the poor satyr.
"And, Bing?"
"Yeah?"
"I have loads of best friends."
"Way to kick me when I'm already down, Leo..."
"That's not what I mean!" He quickly jumped in. "I'm saying...you can have multiple friends. They all serve different purposes, I guess. My best friend Jason...he's like my complete opposite. He's a leader, for start. Calm and collected...everything I'm not." Leo chuckled. "Or my friend Piper...she calls me out on all my stupid crap. Some friends I didn't even like in the beginning, like my friends Nico and Frank. My friend Hazel is more like a sister. Some friends...some friends are family..."
"Family?"
"Yeah...they're all my family. You and Max are, too."
Maybe the words were said for comfort purposes at first. But as he said them, he realized it was true. He hadn't noticed it when he was helping Max with complex engineering equations, or when he and Bing argued about if Die Hard was a Christmas movie. But now...he got it.
Families were often messy, slapped together with glue and sometimes broken.
But his had just grown.
A small smile appeared on Bing's face. "Am I?"
"Of course, Blitzen."
"I still do not like that nickname."
Leo grinned. "And that means I've hit the jackpot."
Bing gave a small laugh, looking over at Max. "He's a good kid."
"He is," Leo agreed.
"I can't wait for him to be reunited with his family."
Leo gulped, looking down at the train's ground. "I'll tell you a secret...something no one knows. That's what friends do."
"I'm listening."
He took a deep breath, finally ready to verbalize the thought that had been tormenting him.
"I'm...I'm almost scared to see Rosie again. I'm scared that when we find her...she'll be so mad at me. Maybe even mad enough to hate me."
Rosie was already in danger. Maybe, just maybe, that was his fault.
Maybe showing up was the last thing she wanted.
Bing paused with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I don't know Rosie. I can't speak for her, but...I think that love, real love? It sees all sides of the choices we make. Yes, maybe she'll be hurt, or upset...but I think she'll recognize the great sacrifice it took to get here. You rose from the dead, Leo. You defied the ruling of a god. You found Max. All in the name of love...what you're doing is extraordinary."
Leo didn't say anything.
"Leo?"
Leo quickly hid his face.
"Are you crying?" Bing asked in a surprised tone.
"No!" Leo exclaimed with a nervous laugh. "I just- I think there's dust on my seat-"
"You're totally crying!"
"Am not!" Leo said, clearly sniffling. "Allergies!"
"I just made my best friend cry!" Bing said gleefully.
"Bing!"
