7-winning a game

"So...explain how we got stuck with guard duty again?" Hazel asked, brushing a bit of hair out of her face with a huffy, sulking sigh.

They were standing next to the flag, a tall wall made haphazardly of gray bricks towering before them, creating a circle around the two demigods. The sun cast a shadow over them.

"Because they don't think we're skilled enough to actually take the flags." Leo said dully.

Hazel's face turned white and red at the same time in fury. "What!"

Leo shrugged, completely okay with that fact.

"Well, it's not like I'm ever going to be as good as Jason or Piper." He told her, staring at the darkened ground with a harsh expression.

Never going to be good enough...

"Or Percy or Frank." Hazel continued, and Leo was surprised to see her mirroring his bitter look.

"So that's how we got stuck on guard duty." Leo concluded, staring at the gray bricks in front of him as if they were giving him the key to life. Now that he looked, they seemed much more sturdy than at first glance.

"Well, this sucks." Hazel stuck her tongue into her cheek thoughtfully.

"Yup." Leo agreed, tapping out a beat on his blue, jean-covered leg.

Silence fell over them like a blanket, soft and thick. Leo was half-certain that he could cut the foggy quiet with a knife if he had one.

The sound of clashing swords and screams of challenge reached their ears. Panicked orders and shouts of defiance floated toward them on the breeze.

Hazel got up quickly and began to pace the length of the fortress restlessly, swinging her cavalry sword.

Leo, bored, watched her, admiring her graceful walk.

"We should be out there helping!" She said loudly, turning around quickly, and oh my god, she was beautiful. Her hair was a curled mess, spilling out of her helmet as if they wanted to defy gravity, and her cheeks were flushed passionately under angrily sparking, over-zealous eyes.

Beautiful.

"Huh?" Leo answered eloquently, unable to tear his gaze away from her.

She turned away first, cheeks burning a brilliant red.

"We shouldn't be sitting here on guard duty." She sulked, and Leo thought she looked just adorable pouting.

"Ha! They left these two?" They looked up to see a group of five demigods clambering over the wall.

Leo drew his hammer, but it felt painfully inadequate against their swords which suddenly looked very sharp.

Five against two. Great.

"This will be easy." The person in front - Leo thought it was a girl - said as if relishing the idea of skinning them alive.

Then she flew at them with a raw-throated war cry.

The leader went straight for Leo, stabbing at him with her spear like she wanted, ultimately, to literally kill him. Leo yelped like a dog and ducked under it.

A moment of confusion appeared on the girl's face before she stabbed down at his face.

Leo twisted out of the way, bringing the hammer down on the wooden shaft. Oh, she did want to kill him.

The stick almost splintered, creaking dangerously, but a look of panic made the girl look slightly crazed and a bit psychotic. She screamed in fury and tried to stab him again.

"Seriously, what's with the trying to make me into a shish-ka-bob?" Leo muttered distractedly, concentrating on not bursting into flames.

The girl drew a knife in one hand, keeping the spear balanced in the other, and slashed at his face.

Leo screamed in pain as the Imperial Gold left a burning scrape down his jawline as he twisted out of the way. The knife turned halfway down his face and left a jagged swerve in the cut. Blood began to leak out, down his neck and into his shirt, which soaked it up like a towel.

Leo brought down the lead ball of the hammer down again, powered by adrenaline and fury at the Roman, who looked pleased with herself. Just a spark erupted, not enough for suspicion, but the shaft broke in two.

The girl looked utterly dumbfounded, as if she hadn't thought he was capable of breaking her spear, before Leo hit her lightly upside the head, and she crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut, the knife dropping from her slack grip.

"Yeah!" Leo yelled, hoping that she was okay even if she'd tried to kill him.

Whirling around at a small shriek, the son of Hephaestus saw a sight that made his blood run cold in horror.

Death unleash through a game of play...

Hazel was flat on her back, her cavalry sword lying out of reach. Two of the demigods were standing over her, one of the swords aimed at her throat.

Hazel turned her head to look at Leo, and for an instant, an everlasting instant, desperate gold met shocked brown.

Memories flooded into Leo's mind, familiar and strange at the same time. A school in New Orleans, growing old (okay, weird experience), never forgetting the sparkling, gilded eyes. The judgment panel, asking-no, begging for rebirth, for the Lethe, just to forget the freaking memory of those gods-damned eyes. The cool, silky feel of the Lethe washing over him and screaming in loss and pleasure as the golden memory left. A man was looming over him, giving him a kind, albeit creepy, smile and telling him he'd be privileged enough to be in the same family.

A name floated, just out of reach. Leo tried to snatch it out of the air, but it eluded him. He frowned and tried again, concentrating on remembering.

Sammy...Sammy Valdez. Yes, that was him. Or was it?

It was about this time that Leo realized his eyes were closed. He opened them to white curtains, like in a hospital. Or an infirmary.

Oh shit. Hazel...

"Hazel!" Leo sat upright in bed, eyes wide and ready to run.

"Woah!" Jason grabbed his shoulders and pushed him down again.

Now that he looked, he WAS in an infirmary. White, bleached cotton sheets separated the perfectly made beds, giving it a lonely feeling.

Eww. He hated the smell of infirmary. It smelled so...sick.

"Where's Hazel?" He asked, refusing to sit down. His fingers traced along his jawline; a messy scar remained as a tribute to his fight. He assumed they hadn't seen it, hopefully being too busy with seeing if he was alive. Or maybe Imperial Gold couldn't be healed; he wasn't really sure.

"She's perfectly safe. We won right before she would've gotten hurt." Piper soothed, but even she looked uneasy. "The kids are being punished. You passed out."

"That's pathetic." Leo scoffed, sinking back down onto the fluffy, cotton pillows in relief. "I fainted like a wimp."

"No, you didn't." Jason said vehemently. "You aren't a wimp."

Leo shrugged, unconvinced. "Neither of you fainted, right?"

Piper and Jason exchanged a look that clearly said we can't argue with him and left, talking - or arguing - in hushed tones.

A panel of judges flickered in front of Leo's eyes, and he closed them, welcoming the comforting blackness to soothe the start of his headache.

He was Sammy Valdez's reincarnation. Who knew?

So, there's my theory. Also I have a poll set up for Octavian and Jason's pairings (finally figured out how to do that!) so if you could click over and spare me a moment of your time.

Does anyone have any ideas for a pairing for Frank? I was thinking Drew for some reason, I don't know why

Opinions and ideas are always welcome, but please no flames