40. Oblivion
Oblivion, the End of the World, Armageddon. Call it what you will, the potential extinction of everyone you love on earth isn't so scary when the person you love is at your side.
It's still terrifying. It still makes Leo shake in his Reeboks and grip Reyna's hand with a vise-like grip; but it would be so much worse if he was facing it alone.
Reyna's always given him strength, even by just being there. Now he needs it more than ever.
He looks around at his friends, sees the grim determination on their pale, stricken faces, and he feels anger.
Because they've already saved the world multiple times over and this isn't fair.
Piper is holding Jason's hand and he is whispering things into her ear and Leo looks away because he's already told them both his goodbyes and he just can't stand to watch his friends- who should have grown up to be old and grey with grandchildren- say goodbye to one another.
He spots Frank and Hazel, the girl wrapped in the big guy's arms, almost completely hidden from view, and he wonders how much they would give to have had more time together.
Leo suspects Hazel would raise all of the precious metal from under the earth for just one more day.
Then there is Annabeth and Percy, and Leo doesn't know why but they hurt the most. Because Annabeth has silent tears streaming down her face and Leo thinks there is a reason he has never wanted to see Annabeth cry- seeing it shocks him.
Annabeth is crying and Percy has a broken, helpless look devoid of any hope and he wonders, as they watch fire rage around them and storms tear the oceans apart, what it must be like to have hoped for a happy ending your entire life only to never get it.
The other campers surround them, some parents and other mortal loved ones have crossed into Camp Half-Blood- the wards failed hours ago and Sally and Paul Blofis were the first to run across and hug both Annabeth and Percy tightly.
But Leo and Reyna stand alone, hands linked, a little way away from their friends.
There is nothing he can say to her, but he thinks hopeless dreams. I wish we could have had more time, I'll never stop loving you, we'll be together, you'll still have to put up with me in the Underworld. All of these flash through his mind but he doesn't say anything because when you're about to be killed by an evil goddess older than the Gods and trying to think of what you're last words could be, nothing is good enough.
He wants the last thing he sees to be Reyna's face and the last thing he tastes to be Reyna's lips. He wants her voice to be the last thing he hears and wants her hand to be the last touch he feels.
So he grabs her and pulls her to him, kissing her roughly. It's a good kiss, slow, but it's also demanding, because he needs this, like a druggie needs his next hit. This has to last, has to be enough- and it is. Because he's finally calm. Her hand is in his, her taste making his lips tingle, her face in his sight.
And when she speaks her words ring in his ears. "I love you, Leo."
Those are the last words he hears before fire surrounds them and waves crash into the earth and the very ground beneath them breaks.
Oblivion.