"Alright, gang."
Annabeth was getting tired of taking charge. Percy was normally the one who led their adventures. Sure she planned everything out, but in the heat of the moment, Percy was the best guy to have around. He knew how to fight well, and understood battle strategy. Probably more than I do. Annabeth admitted to herself. Seaweed-Brain was a lot smarter than anyone let on.
So WHY? Why on EARTH did he think he should manipulate the water in the Cyclops's blood?! Because the second that monster died, Percy was knocked out. Again. That definitely wasn't smart on his part.
With Percy still cradled in her arms, Annabeth struggled to stand up while supporting his unconscious body. "We have to go. Find the ship, get out of here. Do something."
"Is doing 'something' enough?" Piper spoke up. She limped over to stand next to Frank. "I mean, think about it. There's no way we can defeat Gaea now. We need Seven demigods."
"There's lots of other demigods out there. What about Reyna? Nico?" Annabeth hated the words coming out of her mouth. They couldn't just replace Hazel and Jason.
"We can't-" Frank started to argue against Annabeth, but was interrupted by a quiet voice.
Leo's head hung as he spoke, his dark curls hiding his face. "Even if we had seven demigods. It's not possible to build another Argo II. There's just not enough time. The best I can hope for right now is scavenging for enough materials to rebuild Festus and cross my fingers that Piper can charmspeak it back to life and we can get out of this awful forest. But Festus isn't built structurally to carry seven people and their supplies. Even the five of us will be a stretch."
"I get that it's going to be hard, Leo," Annabeth said a little too harshly, "But we don't have a choice. We can't give up."
Sighing, Leo turned around, slouching as he walked, "Let's just go back to the wreckage."
It was exactly as they left it. Broken wood planks and debris scattered everywhere and the few belongings they had that weren't destroyed were gathered together in a pathetically small pile.
Frank was busy helping Piper clean and bandage her leg, and Annabeth was taking care of Percy, so Leo felt himself walking off on his own to do his job. Repair boy. Now he only had to find something to work for Festus's body until he could actually fix his closest friend.
As Leo dug around inside what used to be the deckhouse, ignoring the splinters and scrapes on his hands.
With nobody else around to talk to, he could feel his thoughts getting louder and louder. He could imagine what Jason would say.
"Dude, you're crazy."
Or Hazel.
"You should stop, Leo. Take a break and process everything. You won't be helpful if you have a mental breakdown."
Leo rolled his eyes. Hazel always gave him advice he never wanted to listen to. And it wasn't like that was going to change.
Clang!
The metal rod he was moving aside fell on the floor, narrowly avoiding Leo's feet. His hands were practically uncontrollable. They were shaking so much, he couldn't keep his grip.
"Heheh," Leo laughed painfully, "Who am I kidding? I'm not strong enough to do this. I shouldn't have kept running away, back and forth. I got Hazel and Jason killed."
He grabbed his wrist tightly, hoping it would stop him from the shaky panic he could feel washing over him.
"And I got Percy hurt."
"I got Piper hurt."
"I made Annabeth mad."
"Frank probably hates me even more now."
Leo forces himself to hold in the tears. He took a deep breath and straightened up. His hands were still shaky, but if anybody asked him about it, he could blame it on shock or adrenaline.
He went back over to the rest of the Five, a bundle of gears in his arms. "I've got the materials. I could use some help building Festus's body."
He forced a smile in front of his friends. He couldn't crumble under the pressure. Not right now. He had to keep pretending everything was fine.
"Sure, Fire Boy," Piper nodded as Frank helped her get up.
"Just tell us what to do."
Sorry this chapter is a little later! I actually had the chapter written but my laptop was being slow and my internet was being terrible the past two days, so I never got the chance to actually post this! Anyway, sorry for the wait but it's here now!
I hope y'all are staying safe and healthy!
-Apollo
