Leo didn't like being the jealous type.
Leo didn't think it was possible that he was jealous of the guy, he had the love of his life, Calypso, for the gods' sakes! But here he was, watching Connor and Michelle with a scowl. They gripped each other's hands as if their life depended on the other, they're mouths were in identical, strained, flat lines, as if it was a struggle not to frown. Leo watches them trade a look, and Michelle jerks Connor's hand as they walk towards Zeus' Fist and disappear behind it.
He wants to follow them, but doesn't want to confirm his worst fear.
That Michelle had moved on, and with her twin's ex-boyfriend, for that matter.
But he does, he creeps towards the rock formation, as he gets closer he thinks he hears weeping, but he shakes his head of the thought. Why would one, or both, of them be crying?
He takes a deep breath and peers around the rocks, he sees them sitting on the ground, Michelle's head in Connor's chest, Connor's head bent over her's. Then, he realizes the weeping is louder, and they are crying. Leo is confused, and he slowly backs away. As he's stepping backwards he trips over a loose rock and falls, cursing loudly in Ancient Greek. The couple's heads pick up and look over at Leo, sprawled on the ground. Michelle stands up furiously, wiping at her frosty-teared face. "Leo Valdez!" she roars, stomping over to him and standing over him, hands on her hips. "What in the name of all the gods are you doing?" she growls slowly. Connor, fighting a smile, walks over to Michelle and places a hand on her shoulder. It looks more like a sibling move than a romantic one. Leo takes note of this and stands, looking down at Michelle. She glares up at him and her icy orbs stab through his heart. There is so much turmoil in them. Anger, sadness, bitterness, grief, they swirl 'round and 'round her eyes and she looks ready to shatter. He feels bad, like he caused all these emotions to spring up in her eyes. Connor's hand reaches out until he's wrapped his whole arm around her shoulder, and pulled her to his side. For once, the mischievous son of Hermes' brown eyes are serious. They're even angry, and it shocks Leo like one of Jason's lightning bolts. What was going on with them?! And where was Nik?!
Then it hit him, like a freaking brick wall.
Nik was gone. He remembered them burning a shroud for her, Michelle had made it, the usual Athena grey background with an owl, but beside the owl was a bright blue lightning bolt, marking it as Nikolet Lectric Kelley's. Granddaughter of Zeus, great-granddaughter of Khione. She was a legacy, Michelle's twin sister and best friend. The love of Connor's life.
And she was just gone. One distracted glance to assure herself her twin was safe and she was slashed to ribbons by a monster.
His eyes glazed over as he processed all of this, as their collective memories and feelings hit him in the gut. He wanted to double over and cry from their collective grief, and yet he stood tall, or as tall as he could. Michelle's ice orbs were still stabbing into him, and even Connor's brown eyes were menacingly angry. They both looked ready to kill him. Even he wanted to kill him. He reached out his hand and grasped one of Michelle's. It was cold, it seemed to spark with anger, as if she'd rubbed socked feet on carpet and touched him. Her ice eyes held his and she didn't take his hand, nor did she remove it from his grasp. She stood there, emotions burbling, ready to spew over. He figured she had some pretty steady willpower to hold his gaze as long as she had and not break. He probably didn't help her grief. She'd lost him too.
Connor clears his throat, carefully removes Michelle's small, cold hand from Leo's, and leads her away. Back to the Athena cabin. Back to a place she could silently grieve and not be bothered. They'd all lost a sister that day. They'd lost a headstrong, stubborn fighter. And lost one of their best strategists with her.
Later, Connor tells him that that had been the first Michelle had spoken since her sister's death. Since the actual war Nik had died in. Michelle hadn't spoken in months. And then Leo shows up to ruin their tear-fest and she explodes, she breaks.
He breaks her again. It's almost too much for Leo to handle, to think about. Calypso reaches over and squeezes his hand, giving him a warm, comforting smile. He smiles back at her, squeezes her hand back, and they continue to sit in silence for the rest of the campfire.
The campfire Michelle didn't show up to.
That night, Leo tosses and turns in bed, unable to stop thinking of how much he hurt her again. He broke her again. He made her remember everything she'd been wanting to forget. So he stands up, rubs his eyes, and walks to the Athena cabin, his feet lead by his memories. He knocks, it's all automatic, autopilot, he doesn't even remember how he got there when he wakes up outside the door the next morning. No one had heard the knock, and Leo fell over in exhaustion. Annabeth woke him up, asked him why he was there, how he'd gotten there. The only thing he could remember was needing to talk to Michelle. He wasn't sure why, or what about, but he needed to talk to her…
Annabeth gives him a pitying look, she's squatting next to him, the morning sun making her squint and bouncing off her long blond hair, he's not sure why he decides to take notice of it, but he does, and clicks a picture for his memory scrapbook.
After a while, Annabeth sighs, stands, and walks back into the cabin. She prods Michelle's side gently. Michelle turns over, her face coated in iced-over tears and her eyes bloodshot, as if she'd not slept at all. She'd heard Leo's knock, but she'd been too numb to stand and answer the door. Annabeth looks at her sadly, then says softly, "Leo wants to talk to you."
She gives a sad sigh, then slowly, ever so slowly, sits up on her lower bunk. The one above her the way Nik had left it. She manages to stand, albeit wobbly, and walks to her trunk, where she pulls a clean camp shirt and jeans from the contents, and walks to the bathroom. She changes quickly, though Annabeth isn't sure why. She thinks maybe it's because she doesn't want to look in the mirror more than necessary. She doesn't want to mistake her reflection for her twin's. Annabeth helps her out the door, Leo is still lying at the foot of the steps, and Michelle manages to walk down them herself and sit on the bottommost one. She prods Leo with her sock-covered foot.
He sits up, rubs his eyes, though the sun is behind him, and looks at her. Her face is hollow, he's sure she rarely eats, her eyes are dulling, her hair looks limp and lifeless in it's sloppy ponytail. He takes another memory picture, and again he's not sure why he does.
"Hey." he says.
She nods her head in response.
"I'm...Sorry. I forgot you lost-"
"Don't." her voice is broken and hollow. As if someone had shattered it and stole the emotions.
He nods, now, and he looks into her dulling eyes. "I really am sorry."
"If you were sorry...You wouldn't have come back as soon as you did. It still stings, Leo."
She spoke three full sentences, each on more broken and close to tears than the last. She didn't call him "Valdez" or "Fire Lord". She wasn't smiling. The only emotion on her face was in her eyes. Leo wants to take away her pain, but he has Calypso. And now he's stuck between making someone he loves feel better, and making the girl he loves hate him. But Leo takes a deep breath, leans forward, and pulls her to his chest.
She cries, and cries, and cries. Ice chips hit him with each tear, but he adjusts to the constant of it and becomes numb to the cold. They sit there for hours in the early morning light. Leo holding her, murmuring "It'll be okay." to her, over and over. Michelle just letting him hold her while she cries.
Annabeth comes out around breakfast time, she looks at them, and pries a sleeping Michelle from Leo like a little girl. Leo didn't notice how frosty his chest had become, and immediately lights up his chest to melt the ice. Annabeth takes Michelle back into the cabin, places her in her bed, and walks back out to Leo.
"I needed to apologize." His response is immediate.
"I know. But she's already broken, Leo, couldn't you have waited for a little while before coming back with Calypso and breaking her more?" Annabeth sits across from him Indian style. She sounds matter-of-fact, not scolding or sad. She didn't lose her twin and her best friend in one mistaken glance. She didn't have Michelle's pain of losing someone she loved either. Sure, she'd come pretty damn close to losing Percy a few times, but the guy was indestructible, and he'd always come back. Leo had basically died on her after breaking up with her, then came back to rub his liveliness and new girlfriend in her face. On top of losing her twin sister. She was hollow and numb and broken. Leo's eyes widen, he thinks a few horrible thoughts, then shakes them out. She wouldn't! Nik would be sad she'd done it, Connor would be left to deal with the grief alone, She wouldn't! But he stands anyway, slowly walks into the cabin, and looks at her sleeping. She looks peaceful, alive. As if she weren't broken anymore. It makes him want to smile.
And then she shrieks, piercing, at the top of her lungs. Annabeth rushes in, Will Solace, Connor, and Percy behind her. Will, Percy, and Connor walk over to her bed, and gently shake her awake. She shakes her head and her face is covered in frosty tears again, she leans over and shakes, everything shakes, she looks ready to vomit, but instead of backing away, Percy shoots towards her and holds her, rocking her. Annabeth is covering her mouth and letting her tears fall. Percy looks up at the other boys, concerned, then his sea green eyes zero in on Leo, and he wants to dash at the glimpse of venom in the son of Poseidon's eyes. Michelle is still shaking with sobs, though she's quiet about it. Percy's venomous eyes turn grimacing and he stands for Will and Connor to take his place. They murmur quiet, calming words to her and rock her back and forth between them, sharing a sad look. And then Leo realizes why Will Solace is there. He's dating Michelle now. Michelle's still quaking with sobs, she won't open her eyes and her face becomes frostier and frostier. Leo then notices Michelle appearing smaller, he's pulled out the door and down the steps. and his only guess is Percy and Annabeth.
"You broke her more, Valdez." Percy's voice is gravelly.
"I know. I know, I KNOW! I screwed up big time, I should've known better, remembered about Nik. I'm a sucky person and an even sukier ex. I just plain suck!" Leo's just as pissed with himself as everyone else seems to be.
Annabeth places a hand on Percy's shoulder as they come to a stop. "Percy, please." she's pleading, she sounds near tears. "Don't do this."
Leo hears soft waves lapping against the shore, and realizes they're all on the dock.
"He needs to see Annabeth. He needs to see everything she feels." And with that, Leo feels himself being pulled into the ocean. His head is underwater, yet he can breathe…Leo decides Percy wasn't killing him, and had put a bubble over them.
"I'm gonna show you all of her grief, Valdez." And Leo is spun around to face Percy. The son of the sea god waves his hand in the water, and a movie-screen sized bubble forms, in watery Technicolor, Leo sees the war on camp in first person. He knows he's watching from Michelle's view. His heart beats fast, and his breathing deepens, as if he's running and can't stop.
"NIK!" the word bursts from his mouth, but sounds like Michelle's voice. The first-person screen view swivels to the girl who's going to die. She gives the screen a thumbs-up, a smile on her face. "We got this Chelley. With my fighting and your strategy, we're unstoppable." The camera nods once and they're running again. The screen fades black, then fades into another scene, still in the first-person view. The screen has an ugly beast right in front but it's dust in seconds. "NIK!" Leo's mouth screams the word, but again he's speaking as Michelle. "NIKKI WHERE ARE YOU?!" the screen glimpses electric blue eyes in the mass of monsters and demigods and Leo feels like he's rushing towards them. His heart beat is rising with each step and each thought laced with fear. He's only five feet away when it happens.
Nik glances over her shoulder, her cocky smile still well in place.
And then blood. It's spattered everywhere and Leo even expects to look down and find some on himself. He doesn't.
Nik was slashed down only five feet from him and in a matter of a glance she was gone. Dead. Leo feels the grief, the fear, the want of death immediately.
He's never wanted to lay down and die beside someone more. He feels as if his heart had been torn from him and stomped on. He breaks.
And he realizes this had been Michelle's thoughts and feelings, how she'd reacted. And Leo just wanted to curl up in a ball and die on the seafloor.
Leo's brain decides to remind him that not too many months after the burning of shrouds for all the dead campers he comes back with Calypso, along with telling him that Michelle was probably covered in her twin's blood after that. The movie isn't over though. Leo feels all of the emotions boil into one.
Complete rage.
Leo, as Michelle, starts hacking down every monster in her way, she freezes, then hacks with her knife.
Freeze. Hack. Freeze. Hack.
A constant cycle, she feels nothing, feels unstoppable she no longer feels grief, just rage and a lust for vengeance. Before Leo notices it, he, as Michelle, has hacked down every monster in a twenty-foot radius.
And then Michelle collapses on her knees and cries. Loud sobs rack her body, she's screaming and cursing every deity she knows. The screen is third-person now, watching Michelle as she breaks down in the middle of a war. Then the screen is zooming towards her and Leo knows he's watching from someone's elses view.
"Will." Percy says, and then he seems to fade from existence as Leo's pulled back to the screen. Will is hunched over her, rocking her and murmuring to her, trying to quiet her sobs. He pulls a pack of gum from his pocket and makes her chew a piece, though it doesn't appear to have any effect.
"You can't mend a broken heart with gum." Will mutters as he hauls Michelle up and carries her towards an infirmary tent. He lays her on a cot and covers her, she doesn't appear to have any outward wounds, nothing is bleeding, she doesn't even have any sign of inward damage either. Besides her broken heart.
Will sighs and walks from the infirmary, his own heart cracking. Michelle was a shell now, she was broken and her insides ripped from her, like an egg.
The screen flashes to one more view.
"Connor." Percy confirms for Leo, and then Leo is living the son of Hermes memory of the day he lost Nik.
He's fighting again, slashing down baddies and creeps, and from twenty feet away, he watches from a frontal view of Nik getting sliced. Connor leans over and retches, over and over until he doesn't have anything left. He runs towards Nik's body and looks into her lifeless eyes one final time before closing them. He looks around him, alert for monsters, but Michelle has hacked them all down by now. Connor sees her crying there, but he also sees Will across the way, and decides to take care of Nik. He runs, holding her limp body one more time as he runs to the woods to bury her. When he finishes, he wipes his brow and makes his way back to the battle, where he finally revokes his own revenge.
A good while later, he, too, is in the infirmary, Will looking over him with despair. The son of Apollo shakes his head once, and Connor nods before turning to see Michelle asleep in the cot next to his. He decides sleep would be good. The screen fades to black. Then snaps back into full color as he hears shrieking coming from somewhere beside him. It's Michelle. Immediately he's on his feet and rushing to her, cradling her and rocking her, telling her it was a nightmare. She looks around, looks for Nik, then shakes her head. "Not a nightmare. Real." A quick montage of everything that happened afterwards, of Michelle's night terrors, of her not speaking anymore. A montage of Will and Connor comforting her.
And then, he's looking through Michelle's eyes as he waltzes into Camp Half-Blood, Calypso on his arm. She's running and crying, and she throws herself at Zeus' Fist and curls into the tightest of balls. She's dying all over again, cursing herself for believing he wouldn't come back, for believing if he did he wouldn't have Calypso.
She picked up a sharp rock and raised it to her wrist, she wanted to strike down, draw blood, let it flood until she was empty of it.
She wanted to die.
Leo covers his mouth in horror at these feelings he'd brought on her. He looks over to Percy, who nods at the screen as if to say, "Keep watching, it's only worse from here." Leo returns his attention to the screen and feels like vomiting as Michelle draws the rock down her wrist, not enough to draw blood, but it leaves her skin scraped. He forces himself to keep watching. Connor finds her, takes one look at the scene and runs to her, hugging her tightly.
"Michelle...In the name of Hades you better not be-"
Michelle squirms, and reassures Connor she's alive, but he doesn't let up his grip. Instead he put his head to her shoulder and cries there, Michelle leans her head on his and lets her tears fall. They sit and cry for what feels like days, but it's only hours. Leo is watching from third-person now, for real this time. Percy and Annabeth come by, laughing and holding hands, but stop in their tracks when they see Michelle and Connor there. Annabeth turns to Percy and tells him to get Will and Chiron. Percy nods, and with a sad glance at the two crying on Zeus' Fist, he dashes to find the two healers. Annabeth runs to them and hugs them, petting their hair and letting them cry on her. Percy returns minutes later, Chiron and Will on his heels. Will runs to Michelle and takes her from Annabeth, though neither girl says anything of it. Percy runs to Annabeth and holds her, and Chiron makes his way to Connor.
"No healer in this world could cure a broken heart. Not even Asclepius."
Michelle is bawling into Will's chest through all of this, and Leo feels forced to sit and watch. The screen fades to black once more, and Leo thinks he's seen all he needs to, but the screen is in color seconds later.
He's in one of Michelle's night terrors.
It starts off innocently enough, just walking through Camp Half-Blood, through the strawberry fields. The air smells sweet and the satyrs are playing soft melodies for the strawberries to is swaying slightly to the music, like the gemini when Piper sang to them back in Greece. He hears a voice in his head, like a god or goddess speaking to him. "You shall lose all you love in this war. You shall not find another to replace them. They will all abandon you. Join me and I will spare them." It's the last line that makes Leo realize that Queen of the Potty Sludge was corrupting Michelle's dreams.
"DON'T LISTEN TO HER!" he screams at the bubble screen. But it's a memory, a dream, Leo has no say in what happens next. Michelle stands tall, her eyes boring icicles into the earth. "No, Earth Mother. I will not join you. I will lose everyone before I give into you. I will lose the whole world before I lose myself to you." And with that, Michelle shoots icicles into the ground and Gaea's screams are heard all around. The next scene is a montage of Nik's death and Leo's return. Michelle's heart feels darker and darker, but she bites her tongue, she will not say out loud how badly she wishes to surrender to Gaea to prevent more pain. She keeps herself silent for fear she will.
The movie fades to black for the final time.
Percy looks over at Leo at shakes his head. "See how screwed up this is? Michelle used to never wish harm on anyone who'd done nothing to her, and now she's told Gaea that she'll only surrender when she's the final person on earth. Gaea won't cease to stop her heart break until Michelle agrees. And Gaea knows how close she is to breaking for good. Michelle's strong, sure, but she was stronger when you or Nik were beside her. Now, she can't get strength from anyone, Reyna even tried to help, but it only lasted a few minutes when Reyna gave her a few hours." Percy takes a deep breath. "She's even told me she might as well be dead." Percy raises them back to the surface, and Annabeth is relieved when they return. Leo has a feeling in his gut and takes off for the Athena cabin. Percy and Annabeth share a confused look before taking off after him.
He bursts through the door right as her knife makes contact.
"Michelle, NO!" Leo dives for her and manages to rip the knife from her hands without hurting her further.
Michelle doesn't make a sound, just watches the blood burble. The damage is done.
Annabeth runs out the door for Chiron, Percy runs to Michelle's bed and starts trying to stop the blood by ripping her sheets and tying it like a tourniquet.
While Leo just stands there, slack-jawed and holding the suicide weapon.
Chiron rushes in and attends to Michelle before slinging her on his back and running her to the infirmary. Chiron nods at Annabeth, thanking her, and takes off as fast as his horse legs will carry him.
Percy gently takes the weapon from Leo, then brings water from the faucet in the bathroom to clean it of fingerprints and blood. He returns the water, then puts the weapon under all of Michelle's things in her trunk.
"Break! Away from everybody! Break! Away from everything! If you can't stand, the way this place is, take yourself, to higher places!" The chorus sits on repeat in her head. It's the only song Michelle allows in. The last good memory with Nik.
"Don't ever turn to drugs like he did, Chelley."
Michelle rolled her eyes at that and smiled at her twin, "Wouldn't dream of it, Nikki."
Nik nodded and put the song on repeat "BREAK!"
"AWAY FROM EVERYBODY!" Michelle answered with the next line.
"BREAK!"
"AWAY FROM EVERYTHING!"
"IF YOU CAN'T STAND, THE WAY THIS PLACE IS!"
"TAKE, YOURSELF, TO HIGHER PLACES!"
"AT NIGHT I FEEL LIKE A VAMPIRE!"
"I JUST CAN'T GIVE YOU UP!"
"TONIGHT WE BREAK AWAY!"
They were laughing and smiling, despite the fact that right outside camp were enemies set on destroying them. Nik had always been good at making Michelle forget about those kinds of things.
"Break…" Michelle starts, her voice wobbly and gravelly. "Away from everybody. Break...Away from everything. If you can't stand-" she sobs, then continues, "The way...this place is…" She's crying now, standing in the amphitheatre and crying as she sings the chorus to the last happy memory with her twin sister. "Take, yourself, to better places." she changes the lyric at the last second. It feels right, necessary. Nik wasn't high, or higher. She was in Elysium. She would wait to be reborn with her twin sister.
Michelle was sure of it.
Connor finds her there hours later, she's just staring at the ground numbly, how she'd been since Nik had died. Connor walks over and holds her, and Michelle cries into his chest.
Leo's passing by the amphitheatre, showing Calypso around some more. He sees her crying, sees her clinging to Connor like the last string keeping her here. He looks at Calypso, who nods and walks over with him.
Michelle's eyelashes are sprinkled with frosted tears, she wipes at them furiously and glares at Leo. Calypso just stares at her, and then she holds the daughter of Athena.
"I know your pain."
"Hmph." is Michelle's reply.
"I do. I understand what it is like to fear never seeing your loved ones again. But you will see your sister again. I can feel it."
"Humph." Michelle replies again, turning her head away from the island goddess.
"I'm sorry. About your sister. And about Leo. I did not know how much you cared for him."
"Seems like no one really did." Michelle says. Connor's head pops up at that, she'd spoken words again!
"Leo's still a jerk. I don't hold anything against you. Except maybe you cursing Annabeth and Percy, but that's about it. Leo is the one I have a problem with. He lead me to believe he loved me. He was just biding his time for you."
"I'm deeply sorry you felt lead on. I didn't intend to hurt anyone else in all of this."
"I suppose I can't exactly blame you. You had no idea I was waiting for him here at home."
"I didn't know you were either." Leo speaks now, but Michelle had been expecting it.
The icy-eyed girl glares icicles into him, "You should've. I told you how I felt and you ignored me to find your goddess. Gods, Leo! You're so...SO THICK!"
And with a final flash of ice cold, Michelle is gone.
Calypso gives Leo a sad look, as if to confirm that he'd screwed up and broken Michelle more.
Michelle wasn't interested in life anymore. She started talking to Nico about death, asking him questions.
She thought it sounded a lot better than her life. And if she could convince the judges to give her Elysium…
She takes the blade of her dagger that had been buried at the very bottom of her trunk and scrapes down her arm.
She will greet death with grace.
"She's lived quite a heroic life."
"But she took her own life."
This is what Michelle hears next. She doesn't remember the ride across the Styx, just her judgment.
"She's been tempted to join Gaea. She prevailed."
"Along with her losing those most dear to her. The grief was too much for her delicate, icy heart to handle."
"That's correct. She is ice, not stone."
So far it seemed that two of the three heads deciding her afterlife fate were on her side.
"She died to see her twin sister again."
"The third, the one who thought she didn't deserve Elysium, strikes the gavel.
"Elysium."
On the upper world, the camp is grieving.
Leo holds Calypso as she cries. She'd actually been interested in learning more about Michelle.
Connor is curled up beside her burning shroud, but Leo influenced the flames away from the son of Hermes. He didn't need scars on the outside as well.
Annabeth stared into the flames as if they held the answer to her billion questions. Percy stood beside her, stiff and seemingly emotionless, but the Long Island Sound nearby was in turmoil. Either it was Percy's doing, or Poseidon was grieving for the loss of the legacy with the others. The sky was overcast. Zeus seemed to be mourning for his granddaughter, no matter how little he may have cared while she was alive.
But time went on.
Michelle and Nik met up again in Elysium, and while Nik was disappointed in her twin at first, she got over it, and they were reborn as twins once more. This time bearing the names Nicole and Ellie. Though they still go by Nik and Chelle.
Percy and Annabeth wed on their birthday, so as to remember only the happiest memories of them.
Leo and Calypso live their happily ever after, the gods even allow Calypso to die with him, and revoke her goddess-ness. They grow up next to each other and fall in love in their next lives.
Will mourns for Michelle for a good long while, but he, too, moves on, falls in love again. He gets a happily ever after, too.
Connor manages to last through life until his brother's wedding. Then he dies of a broken heart. All thanks to Aphrodite. He's reborn a few short years before Nik, and they fall in love in their next life.
Ultimately, everyone gets another chance. Everyone gets a better ending.
In the end, everyone lives happily ever after.
Some just had to break first.
My Apollo-gies if you cried, I hope my cheesiness down here makes up for it. I just want to remind everyone I don't own anyone but Michelle and Nik.
Essentially this was my way of coping with the final chapter of BoO AKA the entire reason I'm dead inside. So...yeah.
The happier one is still in the works and I have another half-finished sad one.