A/N: I've been gone for ages because writers block everywhere and not being bothered to write everywhere and doubting all oh my writing everywhere -Bianca

The next few days, Hazel had a hard time sleeping. She usually found herself waking up somewhere in the middle of the night and trudging toward Leo's room. He'd always be there, awake, working on some of his machines or thinking up some wonderful conspiracies at Hazel always had a hard time believing. Their conversations were always short, but they got the point across. Hazel was scared.

"Leo?" She whispered outside his door, her breath slowing, sweat trickling down her back.

"Yeah, Hazel?" He answered the door, putting an arm around her shoulder almost immediately and guiding her in. He closed the door behind him and let her to the bed.

"Can I stay here tonight? Please?"

"I think you've stayed enough times that you don't have to ask anymore, Haze." Smiling sweetly, he stroked her hair as she lay down on the bed, knowing that Leo probably wouldn't end up sleeping anyway.

"Thank you, Leo." Her hair was in her face at one point, but he moved it out the way. To her, his touches were like fire, a burning sensation across her body. It was quite funny to her, but she never laughed about it.

"Leo, what if she comes back again?" He knew what she was talking about. What if Gaea came back to haunt her dreams.

"Then I'll be here to protect you." He whispered before beginning to move away, only to have Hazel's arm grasp his and bring him back.

"But what if she doesn't go away?" Hazel whispered, her eyebrows furrowed. He grinned, not responding. Hazel knew the answer. He'll protect her. It was always the same. The few days before this, it was all Leo was saying apart from a few One word answers or technical machine Hephaestus's son type of words.

"Guys wake up!" Leo heard Piper screech outside the door, charmspeak clouding her words intentionally. Leo was already awake, so all he had to do was shake Hazel a little until she understood what was happening.

"Don't take weapons." Piper said, charmspeak in her voice again. Leo was left wondering why not, but he asked no questions. Hazel and Leo walked outside of his room slowly, Hazel still in her boring pajamas They found eachothers hands and made their way up onto the deck where they figured the rest of their friends would be, including Piper.

Once they finally got onto the deck, they saw Frank, Jason and Nico, who Leo was surprised to see, considering he hadn't left his room since Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus.

"Guys, a-are you okay?" Hazel asked, making their way over to them. Jason shook is head frantically, not moving his arms or legs like the rest. They were sat down side by side, hands behind their back when Leo had finally realised what was happening.

"Hazel, don't move towards-" But it was too late, Hazel had almost instantly slipped on the ice that had appeared beneath her feet. She looked up, surprised to see Khione with Zethes and Calais in front of her.

"Leo, you take a step toward them and the girl gets it." Khione indicated over to Piper, who had a sword at her neck and an arm on her waist, keeping her steady.

"What are you doing here?" He spat, trying not to look over to any of the others.

"We want something." Khione shrugged. Zethes was now the one holding onto Piper, Leo not knowing who it was before, but they had seemed to disappear.

"And what is that?" Leo said, looking over at Festus to check if he was okay. He tried not to make it obvious, but Khione caught on, throwing her head back and laughing.

"Oh, don't worry. We won't hurt your precious dragon head. You seem to care more about it than you do your friends, Leo." She laughed

again, but her eyes were now on Leo. Leo instantly regretted even thinking about liking her when he first met her since all he felt now was hatred.

"What do you want?" He asked, wishing he had Piper to help him, but she was stuck with Zethes. They probably got her to speak. Used Jason

as bait.

"I want you." She said, pointing a finger at his chest.

"What? What do you want me for?" Leo asked, backing away. He didn't want her anywhere near him.

"Nothing really. You just seem like a good ally." Leo looked at hr in disbelief before getting an overwhelming need to laugh. He tried to hide his smile by putting on a serious face, but he couldn't The look of confusion on Khione's face set him off, and he was doubling over with laughter.

It all happened so quickly, and Khione was getting embarrassed, angry and restless. She was inches from Leo's face, her eyes flickering with anger, more than what Leo had ever seen before.

"What is your problem?" She asked, grabbing onto his collar and pushing him back so that he was now on the floor.

"I could freeze you to death right now, and-"

"Fire." Leo interrupted, holding his palm out to show a small fire laying there undisturbed. Khione glanced at his palm, then back at him. It went on like that for a while.

"I will come back for you and your friends." Khione muttered, moving away. Calais began to say something, persuading her to take Leo anyway, but a very frightening glance at him showed him that he shouldn't say anything. Once they were all gone, Leo moved over to Piper, making sure she was okay. She seemed to be gasping for air, but she was soon okay, her breath still shaky. She nodded to a nonexistent question and made her way over to Jason, a worried look on her face.

"Hazel? C'mere." Leo said, lighting a fire in his palm again. He knew that Khione had used some kind of freezing power that she had on Hazel, Frank and Jason, and he knew he had to heat it, but he kept well away from her pockets. He never knew pajamas had pockets.

"Valdez, you'd better not-" Frank started. Leo shot him a reassuring glance, still keeping away from where he knew that his lifeline might be. Hazel seemed okay, yet she wasn't asking questions or speaking or making any attempts to say anything. Once her hands were okay, he moved onto Jason, Nico and Frank, and they were all free from the icy grasp in an hour or so.

"I thought she was going to kill you." It was the first time Hazel had spoken since the 'incident' and Leo felt so relieved. His immediate response was to hug her, but he held it back. Mostly because they were in front of Frank, who was making his way over to his room after speaking with Nico briefly.

"Well, she didn't." Leo said, realizing he was in no mood to speak. "Is your brother okay?" He asked, knowing Hazel would be concerned.

"He won't speak to me. I only know he's spoken to Frank." Hazel turned around, walking backwards. "What did he say?"

"He was worried. He said he might just rest even longer now. His energy's really drained." Frank said, his voice monotone and his expression plain. "When are we getting to your camp?" He asked, turning his head to look at Leo. Leo didn't turn.

"I don't know. I'm sure they can look after themselves. You and Jason or something could try contacting Reyna. To persuade her to stop for a while or something. Until we can get to Percy and Annabeth, you know?" Leo said, trying to hide the pain in his voice. Khione had actually hurt him, but he didn't know how. He tried some ambrosia, yet that hadn't worked either.

"I know. We can try. See you later." Frank said, walking into his room. He almost passed it.

"Leo, are you sure they won't attack? I don't know how strong Camp halfblood is really, and..." hazel trailed off, now facing forward, her hand finding its way into Leo's.

"I hope they can. They're strong. They're clever and-" Leo stopped, knowing he had forgotten something. "And Festus is frozen!" He said, eyes widening.

"He's not. She unfroze him or something. I checked. I promise he isn't." Hazel said, trying to forget what Khione had said about Leo caring more about Festus or just machines in general than his own friends. It wasn't true. But she was doubting that.

"Do you-" Hazel stopped herself. She wished the thought away as quickly as it came. Of course Leo didn't care more about machines than he did Hazel.

Leo looked down at her, waiting for her question.

"-want to go get something to eat? I'm pretty hungry." Hazel said, smiling up at him. He nodded, taking a sharp turn so that they could end up at the food hall.

My writing style seems to change loads i mean it's in like past tense then present then both and idk what tense it's in usually but idk i really liked this chapter and i think it's not that bad i mean it's quite long, right? hmm

anyway, tell me what you think and stuff and goodbye luv you all