Hi, gang! Good weekend? Ready for another chapter? I like this one. Nice and dramatic, just the way I like 'em, haha.

Thanks to all of you who reviewed last week! Enjoy!

VIII
LEO

In the end, Leo did end up at Bunker 9 after all, spending the greater part of the day packing for the trip and ensuring that Festus was fully outfitted and ready. A few other people were milling about the bunker, busy with some task or another, but for the most part he was left alone in the dragon's warehouse home. Which, unfortunately, gave him plenty of time to think—something he was seriously starting to hate.

After that brief encounter with Reyna, Leo was fairly certain that the kiss had meant something to her—maybe even more certain than he was about whether or not it had meant something to him. But he also realized that she was desperate to keep it hidden. What really bothered him was why? Did some part of her hate him that much that she didn't want to admit to it? It was the only explanation that he could come up with. And frankly, it made him a bit angry. The least she could do was treat him like a person—tell him the truth so they could get over it and move on with their lives. If she kept acting weird around him, it would only serve to make this quest they were about to take on extremely difficult.

Leo sighed heavily as he stuffed his last bag into the cargo compartment on Festus's left flank and snapped it closed. He turned and leaned his back against the dragon's warm, metal surface, rubbing his forehead with his hands. Festus's tail curled around Leo and rubbed at his ankle, and he looked up to see the dragon's neck twisted toward him, bronze head tilted to the side in an almost questioning gesture.

With a small smile, Leo reached out and touched Festus's nose. Two tiny puffs of steam blew from the dragon's nostrils. "I wish some people made as much sense as you, buddy," he said to the automaton. "Then I wouldn't be so whacked out of my comfort zone. And this mission wouldn't be so totally screwed." Festus opened his jaws and gave a sharp series of clicks in response, and Leo nodded in agreement. "You can say that again."

"I'll never get how you understand that thing."

Leo jumped a mile high at the voice, whipping toward it and almost tripping over Festus's tail. He breathed out and relaxed when he saw Nico leaning against the work table near the wall with his arms folded, dark eyes studying the bronze dragon.

"Are you gonna do that this whole trip?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow. He could have sworn the guy hadn't been standing there twelve seconds ago.

Nico shrugged, unfazed. "Probably."

Leo shook his head and stepped away from Festus, who had turned to observe the newcomer. "Anyway, I'd watch what you say around 'that thing', considering he's gonna be the only thing between you and twenty-thousand feet of open air. Wouldn't want to get on his bad side." He smirked to accompany the joke, knowing that Festus would never intentionally drop someone, but still Nico's eyebrows drew together in an expression of unease.

"It is safe, right?" he said, and Leo shared Festus's twinge of annoyance at being continually referred to as 'it'.

"Of course he's safe. Way improved since the first model—trust me, you'll love it. Imagine having your own personal seats on top of a jet plane flying at cruising speed. It's awesome." Leo grinned, until he noticed that Nico had paled at the description, his fingers just barely tightening around his arms. Realization struck Leo and he asked, "Are you afraid of flying?"

"No," Nico responded a little too quickly, eyes still trained sideways on Festus. "I'm just… more comfortable with my feet on the ground. Or under the ground."

Leo forced himself not to laugh. From what he knew of Nico di Angelo, the guy wasn't scared of anything. "You're afraid of flying." It wasn't a question that time. Nico glared at him, a scowl taking over his features, and Leo held up his hands. "Hey, it's okay. Look, just trust me, alright? There's nothing to worry about. I wouldn't have volunteered Festus for the flight if I didn't think he could handle it." His serious tone seemed to placate Nico and he visibly relaxed a bit, though he still eyed the dragon with a touch of apprehension.

"What were you saying about the mission being totally screwed?" Nico asked, probably in an attempt to change the subject. He picked up a remote for some contraption or another from the worktable beside him and flipped it absently in his hands.

"Oh, that," Leo said lamely, trying to come up with an excuse. In the end, he decided on a part-truth and explained, "I meant Reyna. I don't know if you've noticed, but she and I don't exactly see eye to eye. Probably started when that eidolon possessed me last year and had me inadvertently declare war on her."

"She's… tough to get close to, I'll give you that," Nico replied. "But she's also dedicated. Long as we don't do anything to tick her off, she'll be a big help on this trip."

"Easier said than done," Leo pointed out, knowing that he'd already done enough to tick Reyna off. Not to mention the fact that she'd been even more on edge since the lunar eclipse—not that she didn't have a right to be. She'd lost a number of her friends and been thrown into a war all on the same night. All things considered, she was handling it very well.

"She knows how important this is," Nico said, his voice turning grave. "We all do. I know I'm usually the last person to say this, but we have to work together. If we don't… we won't have a chance of making it back."

Leo glanced over at Nico as the son of Hades stared hard at the floor, his expression stony. He thought of the promise he'd made Hazel to look after Nico and make sure he made it home, and a metallic sort of resolve dripped through him like molten steel. If Reyna didn't want to talk about whatever spark did or didn't exist between them, then he wouldn't talk about it either. But he wouldn't take her distant avoidance anymore. Like Nico said, they needed to work like a team. He was determined to keep that promise to Hazel, and if returning things with Reyna to normal was the way to do it, then so be it.

"I guess that settles it," Leo said matter-of-factly, stretching his arms out in front of him. "I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm not planning on dying on this quest." Nico looked up with a humorless smirk, which Leo took to mean that he felt the same. "Anyway, time's almost up. I'm gonna head up to the mess hall and grab some last-minute grub." He grinned and gestured to Festus, who opened his mouth and clicked excitedly. "Want a lift?"

Nico's smirk vanished. "I'll walk," he said shortly.

"Suit yourself." Leo climbed onto the front-most of the four built-in seats atop the dragon's back, not bothering to strap himself in. They weren't going far. "Meet you at go-time."

-ψ-ψ-ψ-

They had compromised the light deficit situation by moving some of the fixtures from the cabin area to cover the dining pavilion while Leo and the other Hephaestus kids worked on a more permanent solution, which resulted in a slightly dim atmosphere over both locations. Leo had planned on grabbing a quick bite to eat and getting a move on, but when he reached the mess hall that evening something caught his eye—a certain person sitting alone at a table and picking uninterestedly at a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. After a brief moment of indecision, Leo snatched up a plate of pizza and a glass of water and made a beeline for the table, deciding to try and fix one more thing before he left.

With that in mind, he set his food down and dropped onto the bench, saying flatly and without pretext, "We need to talk."

Jason looked up from his untouched dinner. "Are you breaking up with me?" he asked dully.

Leo sighed. "First of all, if you're gonna make a joke, you have to put your heart into it. Some fake tears, the big, pouty, blue eyes, something."

The corner of Jason's mouth lifted in something between a smile and a smirk. "Sorry," he replied in the same monotonous voice. "I forgot I was talking to the master."

There was something vaguely offensive about his tone, but Leo brushed it off and said, "Thank you. And second of all…" He paused, letting his voice and his expression grow serious. "I'm not the one you need to worry about breaking up with you." Jason looked up and met Leo's eyes, his eyebrows angling in an expression of mild anxiety. With a pointed look, Leo added, "I take it by your stunned silence that you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah," Jason admitted unnecessarily, tired, bloodshot eyes falling back to his spaghetti. Leo felt a twinge of sympathy for how worn out his friend looked. He understood how hard it must have been for Jason to lose such a substantial chunk of Camp Jupiter, but at the same time it was frustrating to watch him give up so completely.

"Well?" Leo said sharply when he realized no other response was forthcoming. "Are you gonna do something about it?"

"Why should I?" Jason said with a shrug, defeat in his voice. "I don't deserve—"

"Oh, don't start that again," Leo interrupted irritably. "I'm sick of you moping around feeling sorry for yourself. Have you even noticed that the whole camp has started avoiding you? You're like a freakin' raincloud, man. And that's impressive, considering we're all living in an eternal night already."

"Whatever." A touch of indignation had entered Jason's voice, which Leo supposed was a good thing. Any emotion had to be better than none at all. "You just don't get it."

"No, I don't get it," Leo agreed with a frown. "How 'bout you explain it to me? Tell me why you've turned into this… shell of a person. You used to be a leader, didn't you? What happened to that guy?"

"He let a hundred and fifty people die!" Jason snapped, eyes darting up to meet Leo's. "A leader? All he did was lead them to an early grave. He was weak, and he failed."

"So what? Everybody screws up sometimes. That doesn't mean you have to shut all your friends out."

Jason's eyes suddenly hardened. "You have no right to lecture me about shutting people out, Leo."

Leo stared at Jason, feeling like he'd been slapped in the face. A lump formed in his throat when he realized that Jason was right. Of all people, who was he to scold someone for distancing themselves from others? Wasn't that what he did on a daily basis? He tried to convince himself that it was different, but when it came down to it, the only real difference was that Leo lied about what was bothering him while Jason didn't. Honest to a fault, the son of Jupiter couldn't hide when he was hurting and angry. And maybe that made him come off as weak and self-pitying, but it only made Leo a liar. And try as he might to believe that his way was better, he knew it only made him that much worse.

After a long minute, Leo swallowed hard, his throat dry. "Talk to Piper," he said stiffly. He couldn't refute Jason's argument, so he decided not to bother trying. "You guys need each other."

Jason gave a humorless, self-deprecating smirk, shaking his head at his still-untouched spaghetti. "No one needs me," was all he said.

Every cell in Leo's body screamed with frustration. He wondered briefly if this was how Piper felt when she tried to talk to Jason and his respect for her heightened. "We're in a war, man," Leo pointed out, gesturing to the general air around him. "Yeah, we messed up. People died. It sucks. I'm not saying you should get over it, but if you don't change your attitude, you're just gonna get more people killed."

"See? You know it was me who got them killed."

Leo scowled. "You know that's not what I—"

"Why are you here, Leo?" Jason interrupted with a pained sort of look, like the conversation was physically hurting him.

Leo met Jason's eyes and said firmly, "Because I'm your friend."

"Really?" There was an obvious skepticism in Jason's voice that made Leo frown in mild confusion. "Friends are supposed to be there for each other. You shut me out a long time ago. Now I'm just returning the favor."

"I'm trying to be there for you," Leo argued. "Look, I'm leaving soon, okay? I just wanted to try and fix things before I—"

"Right. Because that's what a repair man does, isn't it? Fix stuff without getting attached."

A little stunned, Leo opened his mouth but could think of nothing to say. Had Jason always thought of him that way, or was it just his anger and frustration doing the talking? He sincerely hoped it was the latter, but some part of him knew that somewhere, Jason had a point. Leo had spent most of his life running away, avoiding attachment. This time, he'd made the decision to stop—to stay at Camp Half-Blood and devote his time to protecting it. But that didn't change the fact that running and hiding were in his nature, even if now he was doing it differently.

"What, now you're speechless?" Jason said when Leo didn't respond. "That's a first." Oddly, there was no venom or even sarcasm in his voice. It was just dull and tired. "I get what you want, okay? But just give it up. You and Reyna are going on this big, heroic quest to save the world while I stay here and try not to get everybody else killed. It's what I get for letting so many people down, I get it. It should be me going on that quest. It could've been my only chance to fix what I messed up."

Leo shook his head. "But if you went, then—"

"We would've failed, I know."

Leo had to fight the urge to groan out loud. He was tired of Jason cutting him off and refusing to listen. He'd been about to say that if Jason went away, he'd lose the chance to make up with Piper and everyone else. He needed to be at camp. There was so much that only he could do, but he just didn't seem to get that. "Would you cut that out? That's not what I was—"

"I think your 'fixing' is having the opposite effect," Jason interrupted yet again, a tiny hint of irritation in his voice. "Just get going, Leo. Go be a hero and save everyone, like I couldn't do. Then come back and remind me again. Or, you know what—maybe you shouldn't bother coming back at all."

Jason might as well have punched Leo in the gut, because those words seemed to have the exact same effect. Was Jason really that angry with him? No, he told himself, though his mind's voice was a bit weak. He's not mad at me. He's mad at himself. If I give up on him now, it'll be way too late to fix anything.

"I've got to go," Jason said abruptly, gathering his uneaten dinner in his hands. He stood up so forcefully he shoved the table away from him and the opposite edge slammed against Leo's stomach. He swallowed a pained grunt and got to his feet, darting out to intercept his friend as he started toward the east end of the open pavilion.

"Would you just listen to me?" he demanded, but Jason ignored him and instead swept wordlessly past him, his mouth pressed into a thin line. Leo spun around. "Jason. Hey!" He stalked forward just as Jason finally wheeled around. He barely caught the angry look in his friend's eyes before they collided—and the entirety of Jason's uneaten plate of spaghetti and full glass of orange juice tipped and spilled down the front of Leo's clothes.

Leo yelped and staggered backward, lifting his arms as juice and marinara sauce soaked through his shirt and seeped over his jeans. Most of the noodles slid and piled on the floor, but a handful stuck in the sauce so that it looked like a small colony of worms had found a home on his chest. The ceramic plate smashed to pieces on the floor as silence fell in the hall, and for a minute Leo stared at the mess as though he wasn't sure how it had happened. When he slowly raised his head, he saw that Jason was watching with a strange mix of emotion on his face. Anger still sparked in his eyes, but they'd widened with a hint of surprise and regret.

"I'm s…" Jason started, but his voice trailed off as he met Leo's gaze. His mouth closed tightly and, without another word, he turned on his heel and walked away.

As Leo watched him go, he realized that his impromptu spaghetti bath had gotten the attention of everyone else in the mess hall, and now a few dozen faces were staring at him in shock. Normally, he didn't mind being the center of attention. But this time, predictably, he was less inclined toward the spotlight. Part of him was glad that no one was laughing, but another part wished they would. Maybe it would lessen the discomfort.

"You okay?" a female voice asked just to Leo's right. He turned his head to see tan skin, messy brown hair under a red bandanna, and concerned, hazel eyes. Nyssa.

"Yeah," Leo answered shortly, still feeling slightly stunned. "Fine. I just… I have to go." He should've made a joke and laughed the whole thing off, but for some reason his usual humor wouldn't come. He was suddenly glad he'd be leaving camp in less than half an hour—if he stayed, he'd be facing an impressive amount of uncomfortable questions.

Without waiting for a response, he stepped over the pile of noodles, meatballs, and broken glass on the floor and walked quickly out of the mess hall, juice and sauce now soaking through to his skin. He realized halfway that he'd left without finishing his own dinner, but oddly enough it didn't matter. He suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.

If there's a name for the Leo/Jason ship, I will literally cry if it's not "Greased Lightning". Just gonna throw that out there.

Anyway, drama, drama, and more drama! Fun, huh? I think so, at any rate. I love long, drawn-out conflicts with happy endings - if that's an indication of most of my writing, haha.

So drop me a review on your way out, and I'll see you all on Friday for the start of our quest! Later days!

-oMM