The ice bomb did a lot more than throw Annabeth from the Argos II. And a lot more included: decimating the ship's mast and tearing through its sales along with other structural and mechanical damage, cracked the rift that was rapidly growing between Jason and Piper even wider which then impacted on the rest of the crew, and blew them halfway across the world. As if the group hadn't lost enough time, they were now stuck somewhere over Africa in the court of the South Wind. Leo wasn't one to judge or anything but the guy was totally nuts. His court went back and forth between being the stark bone dry summer heat that had the fire maker's shirt sticking to his back and hair matted to his head, to the thick cool fog of thunderous storms bringing relief from the heat and humidity. Unfortunately the whole dealing with fire and forges and pyrokinesis thing didn't actually mean that he was immune from sweating when it was stifling outside so Leo knew which one he preferred.
Jason was as broody as ever, waiting to seek audience with the god of the South Wind. Apparently there was some sort of decision that the guy had to make and it wasn't like the son of Hephaestus wasn't sympathetic or anything but he had much more pressing things on his mind. Like the fact that he had next to no supplies and his magic toolbelt kept overheating. Apparently one could attempt to conjure up too many parts too quickly, especially the more complex and larger ones. Poor Festus needed a whole lot of work but the big guy was going to have to wait until the ship itself was in working order.
Leo swore under his breath as the toolbelt overheated once more; he dropped the wrench in his hand and sprawled out on the floor with his eyes closed. His brown hair was shaggier than normal and stuck up in every single direction from sweat and pushing it repeatedly out of his face. Honestly, he was pretty sure he stank of oil and coolant and he'd lost track of time again so who could say how long it had been since he'd bothered to shower. Turning his head a little he sniffed towards his armpit and, Oh gods, that's honestly disgusting. Leo, buddy, you need to check your hygiene.
Brown eyes spotted the sandaled feet before he heard the gentle knock on the ship to alert him to her presence. "Are you all right down there?" Piper's voice was soft and not just in the quiet way. There was something going on with her lately, and not just the broken up with Jason sort of thing. Whatever had happened between them, he was determined to stay out of it. Both the child of Aphrodite and Jupiter were his friends… but Leo was also human and he would have been lying to himself to not recognize that he honestly felt worse for Piper. Something was massively wrong with her charmspeak and rather than trying to fix it, everyone kept chastising her for it. As someone with a power that was fatal if left unchecked, Leo had been there. Sort of. Of course it was different but the sadness that hung around her shoulders like a weight was one he'd worn himself.
"Yeah… just taking a break."
Piper squatted down until she was practically on the floor and her kaleidoscope eyes met his as she peeked underneath the ship at him. "Do you normally take breaks by sprawling out on the hard floor."
"Not as often as you'd think. It's not so bad under here."
Piper, never one not to check things out for herself, was soon crawling under the ship to join him. She laid with her shoulder touching his and Leo felt like maybe there was a little less air than there was before. Part of him felt like he should apologize, another part like he should shuffle over a bit and give her some space. Then again, there was a third part of him that was like hey, you know what, she's the one who joined you down here and she'd move over if she wasn't comfortable. So in the end? He didn't move at all. Not quite sure what to do with his hands, he folded them over his stomach.
Turning his head, he met her eyes. Apparently Piper had already turned to look at him.
"It's less…" she searched for the word, "stimulating under here. And don't go getting all gross on me." The corners of her mouth tugged up into a smile but it wasn't the kind that reached her eyes.
"Hey— you're the one who said it, not me." Leo flashed his impish grin back at her. Piper was still hurting after Jason and he couldn't blame her. When the bomb had gone off, when Annabeth had jumped in front of it, there had been mayhem. There hadn't been time to think when they were attacked and the ship itself was sent spiraling off course. Frank was below and had been both unaware and relatively safe. For Leo, Jason, Piper and Hazel it had been tumultuous with each of them attempting to grab on to absolutely anything to keep them from being thrown from the ship as they were thrown off course. From the way her multicolored eyes had moved to stare up at the ship-acting-as-ceiling above them and Leo's handiwork, he knew the events after were still playing out on her mind.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
Okay then.
"I didn't mean for her to…"
"I know, Beauty Queen. You don't have to tell me. I'm the last person you have to explain yourself to, okay?" Serious talks weren't exactly Leo Valdez's specialty. No, he was the jester extrordiare. The insanely-handsome-if-somewhat-underdeveloped-for-his-age son of Hephaestus who cracked jokes quicker than people realized they needed a pick me up. Comic relief, that was him. The whole heart to heart thing… emotions and analyzing what people were feeling set the hairs on the back of his neck on edge. Feelings weren't like machines or magic or things he could dissect and work to understand because they weren't logical or even magical.
"Don't let me stop you from whatever you're working on. Maybe I could help out?"
Even though Leo wasn't looking at her any longer, he could feel her gaze on him. If he didn't mean it, she would know, and she would leave. The daughter of Aphrodite needed something to do to feel useful— she probably assumed in the eyes of the rest of their companions but truthfully, mostly in her own.
Leo wiped his hands on the front of his coveralls. "You know what? That'd be great."
He could practically feel the way she beamed at him. "Thank you."
"Why are you thanking me, McLean? I'm going to put you to work. You're going to rue the day you ever asked Leo Valdez if you could give a helping hand." Leo pushed himself out from under the ship and was followed closely by the other demigod.
It was risky but he figured that the toolbelt had had long enough to cool off. He reached down into it and pulled out a pair of spare coveralls and handed them to Piper. She crinkled her nose at them and looked back up. Now, the daughter of love wasn't exactly the type to put a lot of stock in her looks but apparently she drew the line at hideously unflattering work pants. "What? You thought by help I meant you wouldn't be getting your hands dirty?"
Her face broke into a grin.
A few hours later her hair was plastered to her forehead and she wiped the back of a hand across trying to rid a few stray pieces of hair from where they stuck (she had blown on them first but it was unsuccessful). When they didn't work she tried to pluck them with her fingers as cautious as possible but she wound up smudging oil and grime across her russet tanned skin.
"You've got a little—" Leo motioned to her face as he took a seat next to her. They'd earned a break. Normally he'd keep on but her muscles weren't accustomed to the often awkward positions; apparently it was a Hephaestus kid thing to totally tune out any of that and keep on until one had finished their workpiece. Piper scrunched up her nose and went cross-eye attempting to see what the fire starter had motioned to… when she wiped it made it worse.
"I would say it looks like you're wearing war paint but I'm pretty sure that's not what it's supposed to look like." Leo snickered and then grabbed a towel from his tool belt. He held it up before her and Piper nodded. Suddenly his palms sweat and he wasn't sure why he was afraid to breath or why his hands were shaking but he brought the towel to wipe her face free of the streaks and grime. Strictly speaking, his hand might have lingered a little longer than entirely necessary but his brown eyes were caught up in the swirling greens and browns and blues of her eyes.
It wasn't until Piper lifted her own hand and wrapped it around his wrist that Leo snapped out of it. He was about to say something, mouth dropped open, but she beat him to it.
"Do you ever wonder why us?"
"Why us, what?"
"Why you and me… I mean, out of anyone why did Hera pick us?
"I'm not really all that philosophical."
"No, I mean like…" she paused to lick her lips, a crease formed in her brow. Whatever she was trying to say she wanted the words to be right. "It can't be a coincidence that you and I ended up at the Wilderness School."
By then, Leo had dropped his hand but Piper hadn't released her hold on his wrist. He swallowed hard but by then he'd dropped her gaze and was looking at the rag he held in his lap, turning it in his hands. He always fidgeted. It was totally normal. Not out of the ordinary. No, the conversation wasn't going anywhere potentially uncomfortable.
"I ran away from my foster homes seven times… eventually they were going to send me somewhere I couldn't run away from. As for you and charmspeaking a BMW salesman, I mean that's awesome and everything, but the mortals were eventually going to say enough is enough even for a juvenile."
"I know," she sighed. "But don't you think it's weird? Hera could have chosen anyone. She could have stuck Jason with anyone in Camp Halfblood and they wouldn't have known any different."
"Maybe it was too much effort?"
"I think it's more than that. I mean… Jason can remember before. You and I know that these things were manipulated," she motioned in a circular motion towards her head indicating how Hera had screwed with their memories. "But it's just…"
"We already knew each other, Piper. We were already close. It made it easy."
Piper's eyes scrunched in concentration and the grip on his wrist tightened. She was clearly about to ask Leo if he really remembered everything from before and he wasn't sure he could answer that question without making things even more screwed up than they were. She was heart broken over Jason, after all. And things were seriously poor timing. So maybe it was his father or the Fates or something intervening on his behalf, but Hazel popped up.
"Leo— oh, hey, Piper. I didn't expect to see you here." Gold eyes softened. The others might have been angry or frustrated with Piper but Hazel clearly pitied everything the daughter of Aphrodite was having to endure.
Leo pulled his arm free from Piper's grip and stood up. A blush creeped its way from the back of his neck up to his cheeks. "What's up?"
"Auster has agreed to help us. I was just coming to see how things were coming with the ship?"
"It's mostly fixed. There are a few minor issues but it'll hold together." He hadn't had much luck with Festus but they were on a tight deadline and there was no reason he couldn't keep working on the technical dragon as they made their way. Besides, there were some innards he could tinker with in his workshop before installing them back. The rest of the ship was (mostly) good to go.
"Fantastic! We'll be leaving soon then. I'm going to go let Frank know."
Piper stood up and moved to follow after Hazel. She paused in her tracks and Leo could practically feel her wrestling with saying something else. Finally, she turned around, one of her braids bouncing against her shoulder. "Do you think she's okay? Annabeth— I mean— do you think we'll find her?"
"Yes." Leo said with a conviction he hadn't known he felt until that moment. The rag in his hands was tossed onto his shoulder.
Piper shot him a smile before she turned and left Leo alone with his thoughts.
Later, it wasn't Leo that anyone thanked for the repairs he managed on The Argos II that kept the ship together, or for the adaptations he'd made to the engine so it could be turbo powered by the wind spirits Jason had to keep reigned in. Not that it wasn't impressive keeping control of the wind spirits but it sort of figured. Frank and Hazel gushed about how great the other teen had done (Coach Hedge, on the other hand, felt he could have done better and gotten them there in half the time if he'd given the wind spirits a kick up the backside).
Piper stood next to Leo but her gaze never left Jason. He sighed and turned his attention back to the horizon. As they arrived at their destination, Leo was glad as much for Piper's sake as he was for Annabeth's, that he spotted the familiar head of blonde hair sat on the dock waiting for them.