I'm back!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

There are days when I'm okay

And for a moment

I find hope

But there are days when I'm not okay

And I need your help

So I'm letting go

-"Courage" by Superchick

The next day, Leo feels fine. He feels happy, better than he has in months.

Annabeth, Piper, and Frank watch him carefully at breakfast, and Leo is able to eat without The Voice screaming in his ear, ranting about calories and pounds and control. His head feels clear, and all is silent in Leo World. There is no Voice, no methodical counting of calroies, no anxiety. It's fantastic.

He tunes back into the conversation between Jason and Percy.

"Percy, it is unnatural. Pancakes should not be blue!"

"Maybe it's not natural, but then again, neither are we."

"He's got a point," Leo inputs.

"Maybe you do, but still, why blue?"

"It's a tradition," Percy answers.

Jason sighs in exasperation.

"It makes him happy, " Annabeth adds. "I swear he loves blue food more than me."

"Obviously," Percy deadpans.

The crew bursts into laughter, and for the first time in a long time, Leo doesn't have to fake it.

He was too happy. Things were going too well. He should've known it would come to an end.

Leo grabs some sea sickness medication from the cupboard in the bathroom (he always comes prepared) before heading up to the deck.

Hazel is kneeling over the railing, wiping her mouth on her sleeve after her breakfast had finally stopped flying past her lips.

"Here," Leo says, handing her a pill and a glass of water. "Sea sickness medication."

She smiles. "Thanks. Why do you have it?"

Leo shrugs. "I'm like a boy scout. Always prepared."

The daughter of Pluto laughs. "Good thing, too. I was miserable."

"I know how you feel," Leo blurts. At her quizzical look, he lies, "Oh, when I was really young, I had a weak immune system, so I would get sick a lot. My immune system built up over the years."

"Until now," says Hazel.

Frowning, Leo asks, "What do you mean?"

"Frank told me you were sick," Hazel responds. "Is that why you passed out?"

Leo nods. "Yeah, I thought it was just the flu and that it'd go away in a few days, and I let it get way out of hand."

She nods. "Well, I hope you're feeling better, Sam...Leo. Sorry."

Hazel won't meet his eyes.

"Oh, it's fine," Leo lies.

She doesn't care about you. She only cares about her precious Sammy, the Voice growls.

Shut up. She didn't mean it.

You know she did. You shouldn't have eaten this morning.

What does that have to do with now?

You're bloated, disgusting, stupid. Not eating means perfection, stength, and control. Eating means fat and weakness and lack of will power.

I'm sorry.

Sorry isn't good enough. And neither are you.

Before Leo can say anything back, BANG!

Leo whirls around, whipping a hammer out of his belt before Hazel could even react to the sound. A few seconds after Leo, she draws her gladius and faces the... whatever it is.

It's a huge beast ten times the size of Leo. With muscles the size of three baseball in a straight line and dark, greasy hair braided with swords and weapons, it's pretty intimidating. The blood staining its hands and clothes doesn't help either. It only wears a ripped skirt and has tattoos plastered across its chest.

"What is it?" Leo calls to Annabeth as she and Percy skid onto the deck.

"I don't know," she cries.

"Annabeth doesn't know," Leo mutters. "We're in really deep shit."

Arrows imbed themselves in its skin, but the monster just tears them out and snaps them in two. Jason flies at the beast, but it swats Jason out of the air like a fly, and Leo watches as his best friend skids on his back into a wall. He doesn't get back up.

"JASON!" Piper cries before turning towards the monster. "You don't want to hurt us! Leave!" She shouts, pouring Charmspeak into her words. It takes all of Leo's willpower not to obey her and leap off the edge of the ship.

The monster laughs, a thick, grating sound that makes Leo want to cover his ears. It reminds him of one of his foster parents; they'd homeschooled him and had expected a lot from an ADHD, dyslexic kid. Whenever Leo got an answer wrong, she'd either slap him with a ruler or drag her nails down the chalkboard until Leo was begging her to stop. For those of you that have never heard nails on a chalkboard, I envy you.

"Charmspeak does not affect me, girl," it chuckles before kicking Piper, gently. The force still sends her flying back into the rail, where she lands conscious, but incredibly dazed.

Frank turns into a dragon and tries to slash at the monster's face, but the monster punches him. Frank transforms back and falls to the ground, and he doesn't get back up.

Percy is pissed. Water rises from the sea and wraps around the monster, engulfing him in a whirlpool. The monster starts to rise off of the deck, but at the last second, he tosses a sword from his braids; the weapon drives itself into Percy's ribs.

"Percy!" Annabeth cries before racing at the monster, leaping off of the deck and using the beast's leg as a springboard. She raises her dagger over the monster's neck, but he grasps her in his fist and throws her to the ground. She lands beside Percy, clutching her ribs and nearly unconscious.

"Hazel, guard the others," Leo snaps.

"But-"

"Now!"

She nods and goes over to drag Frank away from the monster.

"OI! Ugly!" Leo screams, throwing a screwdriver to get the monster's attention.

The monster glares. "Who are you?"

"I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, and I'm about to pound you into the ground!" Leo brags.

"Oh, really?" The monster grins, nastily, before grabbing Leo around the waist. Leo feels at least three of his ribs break.

"Yep!" Leo chuckles, trying not to weeze in pain. "You're nothing compared to the things I've fought."

The monster glares. "Do tell, demigod. Who is more powerful than I?"

"Well, there's Gaea. And if you're so powerful, do you spit poison?"

"Well, no."

"Fly?"

"Erm, no, but-"

"Immune to fire?"

"No, but-"

Leo smiles. "Great to hear."

Then, he lights himself on fire.

The monster cries out, trying to fling Leo away from him, but Leo simply drops onto its ginormous knee and started scurrying up its legs and swinging himself onto its arm. He is still on fire, and shiny burns are appearing all over the monster's skin.

Leo leaps onto the monster's shoulder, and the monster, roaring in anger, draws a dagger from its hair and starts jabbing at his shoulder blades in search of Leo.

Leo smirks before plunging a dagger (he always carries one for emergencies) into the monster's neck.

It disintegrates, but not before it gets a good stab in. Blood gushes down Leo's stomach, and waves of pain roll over him.

Leo is still on the monster's shoulder when it returns to Tarturas, so Leo is sent rolling. He crashes right into Hazel, and she screams. Leo is still on fire, and she stumbles away from him, burns appearing on her hands and clinging to her clothes.

She starts patting out the flames.

Leo screams, "Stop, duck, and roll."

"What?" She demands.

Leo grabs her shoulders and throws her as gently as he can to the floor.

"Now, roll over until the flames are out," he instructs.

She does so, and the flames vanish in seconds.

She reaches into her pocket and retrieves a piece of... firewood? It's been burned slightly by the flames, but it's still in fairly good condition. Why does Hazel have firewood anyway? And such a small piece, barely the size of Leo's palm.

Leo turns when he hears footsteps, and a fist flies in between his eyes.

Leo falls to the ground, dazed with black spots dancing across his vision. Blood drips over his lips and down his chin, and pain is still burning brightly in his stomach.

"You idiot!" Percy snaps, and Leo scoots away from the angry son of Poseidon. "You burned Hazel and nearly killed Frank."

Leo wonders how, but he decides now is not the right time to ask.

"You're a monster, Valdez! You destroy everything you touch!" Percy yells. "What is wrong with you?"

Leo looks past Percy and sees Frank glaring at him from where he is sitting beside Hazel, who is currently cradling her burned hands. Annabeth is bandaging them; when did she get a first aid kit? Piper is sitting beside Hazel, using Charmspeak to calm her down, and Jason stares at Leo, judgentally, from Piper's side.

"I-I'm sorry," Leo stammers.

"Sorry isn't good enough!"

Leo freezes. The Voice... everything it said was true. He is hearing the same words from Percy, so there must be truth to them. Right?

"I'm sorry," Leo tries again before standing and racing away from the other six.

They are all left staring at a puddle of blood in the middle of the deck.

Leo paces around in his room for several minutes.

He can't purge his breakfast; it's been almost two hours. There is no way he could get anything up. There is only one way to get rid of it.

The son of Hephaestus leaves his room and marches to the training room, his dagger in hand.

Leo isn't sure how much time passes. It could've been hours or minutes or even seconds, but he doesn't stop training. Not even when sweat makes his clothes cling to his body in every area. Not even when blood stains the bandage he'd hastily wrapped around the wound. Not even when the room begins spinning.

Leo trains, doing free running techniques he hasn't used in years, trying new sword tricks Percy and Jason had tried (and failed) to teach him. He does sit ups (which caused the wound on his stomach to flare up, but he doesn't care. He deserves it), push ups, chin ups, pull ups, squats, and so many more exercises. He hasn't exercised like this since he was fourteen, and even though it hurt, the pain makes him feel... alive. He feels in control.

He is just practicing another sword maneuver when the door opens.

"Leo! There you are... what are you doing?" Jason asks.

Leo doesn't even turn to look at him. "Training. What does it look like?"

"Leo, you're bleeding. You need to go the infirmary."

"I'm fine," Leo responds.

But he isn't. The room is spinning like a top on high speed, and Leo knows that it isn't just the wound anymore. He'd burned off any calories from breakfast long ago and doing so much on so little fuel is leaving him dizzy and exhausted.

"No, you're not," Jason says. "Come on."

A hand grabs Leo's arm, and Leo is just about to wrench it away when the world turns side ways, and Leo falls into Jason's arms.

The last thing Leo hears is Jason screaming for help before the world goes black.

Jason is worried about Leo. Sure, he'd been angry when Leo had burned Hazel, but when Leo ran away, leaving only a puddle of blood behind him, Jason's anger was replaced by worry. The kind of worry a big brother has for a little brother.

Jason is racing after Leo before anyone else can take a step.

He loses Leo along the way and heads for Leo's room, but by the time he gets there, Leo is gone. He'd obviously been there, though, because droplets of blood stain the wood and a few rolls of bandages are strewn across the bed.

He searches everywhere, and after Hazel and Percy's wounds are taken care of, the rest of the crew joins him.

Engine room, mess hall, stables, bathrooms... Leo is no where.

The crew gather in the mess hall to discuss where Leo might be, but Jason has one more place to check before he joins them. The training room.

That is where he finds Leo.

Leo is practicing a sword maneuver Jason and Percy had been trying and failing to teach him for weeks. He achieves it, though, so obviously, he's been practicing for a while.

Leo is pale and his shirt clings to his body due to the sweat soaking it. Blood has already stained through his shirt. Jason frowns as he realizes how thin Leo really is; he can count his ribs through his shirt. Leo always wears baggy clothes, but now that his shirt is sticking to his skin, Jason can cleary see that Leo is incredibly underweight. Maybe even dangerously so.

"Leo! There you are... what are you doing?" Jason asks.

Why on earth is Leo doing this while wounded?

Leo doesn't even turn to look at him. "Training. What does it look like?"

"Leo, you're bleeding. You need to go the infirmary."

"I'm fine," Leo responds.

But Jason can tell that he isn't. Leo is pale and bleeding, and he has a hand on the wall to brace himself. Basically he looks like he is ready to pass out. Again.

"No, you're not. Come on."

Jason crosses the room and places a hand on Leo's arm to drag him to the Infirmary if needed.

Before Leo can take a step, though, the fire user topples to the ground, and Jason catches him in his arms.

"HELP!" Jason screams. "HELP!"

People come running, and Jason lifts Leo's shirt and nearly gets sick.

Leo's wound is awful. It's deep, but thankfully narrow. But that isn't what makes Jason feel nauseous.

Leo's ribs jut, dangerously, out of his paper thin skin. His stomach is horribly shrunken in. Leo looks like one of those emaciated prisoners from the concentration camps back in the 1940s.

Jason starts crying, and he hasn't cried in years, but...

How did they not notice?

Well, that's that. At least it's not as dark as last chapter.

Also, I don't mean to bash Percy or anything, but he's incredibly loyal and is probably still mad at Leo for New Rome, so...