Leaneíras wasn't sure what happened, but she was sure of a few things.
She was back in her own world and time if the warmth of her mark against her skin was any indication.
The clouds parted over the Acropolis above her; the black space spangled with stars, the palaces of Mount Olympos gleaming silver and gold in the background. And an army of gods charged down from on high. Waves and waves of energy waft from around her, seeping into the land under her feet and the air around her, tearing the space open even more until the mortals could gaze upon it in fear.
The gods—because these beings that came charging out of the heavens on their war chariots with trumpets blaring and flaming swords of destruction; just more nightmare fuel for the mortals, were deities. These were Gods.
Her Uncle, her King; Zeus Panellênios, led the charge, riding into battle in a golden chariot, a javelin of pure electricity crackling in his hand! Pulling his chariot were four horses made of wind, each constantly shifting from equine to human form, trying to break free.
On the underbelly of the ugly flying ship, the glass bay doors split open, and another deity, with glittering gold wings soared to his side, taking her place as his charioteer.
"MY MIND IS RESTORED!" she roared, and Leaneíras felt more strength imbue her. "VICTORY TO THE GODS!"
At the King's side rode his siblings, Queen Hera with her chariot pulled by enormous peacocks, their rainbow-coloured plumage so bright to the point of distraction. Lord Hades of the Netherworld drove his golden chariot drawn by a team of four immortal, sable-black horses. Swiftly they traversed their long course, and neither the sea nor river-waters nor grassy glens nor mountain-peaks checked the career of the immortal horses, but they cleft the deep air above them as they went. A car with drakones yoked for her Lady Demeter to drive soared towards the battlefield.
And Poseidon, Leaneíras' own Father, urged his team of Hippokampoi with his three-pronged spear: front wise they run at furious speed amid showers of foam, behind they swim and blot out their footprints with their tails.
Leaneíras could see Lord Ares, bellowing with glee, blazing like the light of burning fire in his armour and standing in his chariot, and his running horses trampled and dented the ground with their hooves, and the dust swirled up around them, beaten up between the compacted chariot and the feet of the horses, and the well-put-together chariots and their rails clattered to the gallop of the straining horses. Beside him stood what Lea recognize as Drew's favorite divine-born brothers, Deimos and Phobos, who were eager to plunge amidst the fighting.
There was Lady Kírkē and who she could only imagine as the goddess' Father; the dark-haired goddess standing under the protective form of the golden god as they rode his golden-yoked chariot with his equally golden horses; piercingly he gazes with his eyes from his golden helmet. Bright rays beam dazzlingly from him, and his bright locks streaming from the temples of his head gracefully enclose his far-seen face: a rich, fine-spun garment glows upon his body and flutters in the wind.
Beside them was another goddess, Leaneíras guessed her to be Lady Selene if the lunar sphere set upon her head was any indication with a lunar crescent alongside a raised shining cloak. She drove a chariot drawn by a pair of pegasi and a team of oxen.
In the last second, before the gods reached the Parthenon, they seemed to displace themselves, like they'd jumped through hyperspace. The chariots disappeared until Leaneíras as the small group of seven; her Brother and Drew and Medea and Annabeth; her hers hers hers, were surrounded by the gods.
All this Leaneíras took in the few scant seconds that she appeared as Hermes immediately appeared at her, the immortal sandals of lovely gold that carried him, swift as airy breezes, over ocean and over boundless earth. In one hand, he held his caduceus; the golden rod that he uses to lull men's eyes asleep when he so wills, or again to wake others from their slumber, and she could hear Geōrgios and Mártha hissing from his hold, and in the other, he held a sickle of gold, adamantine metal; the real metal of the gods though she knew not of how she knew it. He banished the sword to places unknown and took her hand in his and guided her from the lives that she lived and into her next.
The blond boy from before—Alabaster's blessing from what she could remember, Livia's cheating boyfriend— shouted and charged the ugliest giant in front of them. The others joined the charge, and well... Leaneíras moved forward also. She lost herself in the midst all the power that she was feeling; it was like her very blood was boiling and freezing over as she moved. She tossed her head back and laughed and cried and screamed.
With a loud whistle, Salome came bounding out a tear into the sky, and she mounted the tiger without a second thought. Leaneíras moved through the armies with an ease that she hadn't had since the titan war; years... months... centuries... time was lost to her just as she was lost to herself. She sat atop of Salome bounding against the horde of smaller monsters – Cyclopes, ogres, six-armed Earthborn and serpent-legged dracaenae, mageia in her eyes and singing throughout her soul.
Her hands were coated with in mageia, her eyes were coated in mageia, she was coated in mageia. Her lips, cherry red and luscious as silk in the light, curved into a smile that promised bloodshed. She was hundreds of thousands of years' worth of knowledge. She was the embodiment of a storm raging against still blue seas, fingertips glowing green, and she launched herself forward, a cry on her tongue as something sharper and much more dangerous took hold of her heart. Leaneíras was the sea, and the sea consumes all: hope, envy, love, and desire.
Hermes fought at her side as they mowed through the giants, and they fought as extensions of one another; they fought as if they were one and not two separate beings. Her power touched the old man's body and spread all his stars a veil of mist and cloud, so easily the spells came from her. "By Asteria and Persês: Open sky and do your worst!" He danced around her spell, charging the direction of it towards a frankly foul-smelling beast.
Wide heaven shook and groaned under the charge of the earth shaker's storm brewing daughter. And yet, she stopped not there for another pulse of mageia came from her, and to see with eyes and to hear the sound with ears it seemed even as if Gaia and wide Ouranos above came together. "Boreas, North Wind, I summon you. Euros, East Wind, I summon you. Notos, South Wind, I summon you. Zephyrus, West Wind, I summon you."
The two continued to cut through the masses, and distantly, Lea could register the fighting around her. The blond boy—Jason, her mind supplied—fought alongside Zeus and Hera together. The Queen of the Gods, possessing some sort of wind and water manipulation, compressing the clouds into an impenetrable shield and crafting spikes of ice by condensing and cooling water vapor in the air. When a giant attempted to strike the mortal boy down, he fell before he could even reach, and a dagger, small and shining like starlight, disappeared up her sleeve as she fought on.
She witnessed Artemis on her own all-golden chariot, a team of golden horned hinds driving it, drew her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and sends out grievous shafts. But the goddess with a bold heart turns every way destroying the race of wild beasts. At her side, stood whom Leaneíras could only suspect was her Mother, casually handing her daughter more arrows as she swung her own staff. Leaneíras could see Koios not too far from them, standing alongside Huákinthos as they tore into another group of these gigantic beings. A little further away, Apóllōn and another blond boy was felling a monstrous dragon-serpent with purple scales, lamp-like yellow eyes, and the ability to grow and discard wings, limbs, and extra heads on a whim. The boy raced through the battle on the back of a horse that Leaneíras came to realize was Arion, disappearing in the mageia mist conjured by Leaneíras and Medea and Hekátē whenever the snake came close, then appearing behind him and stabbing him in the back. Speaking of Hekátē, the goddess danced around in her wake, power pouring out of her and mixing in with the mageia that Leaneíras, Medea, and Kírkē was coating the battlefield with, setting fire to their enemies with two blazing torches.
Leaneíras continued moving forward as her anger leaked out beneath her feet. Laughter bubbled from within Leaneíras, mixing alongside the golden ichor that streamed from her throat and ears and mouth and nose, overpowering the red blood of Olympos with each drip. Her arms spread open, eyes sparking at the seams. "Let their powers fuel my own. Let us all have powers grown!"
The world tore into itself, and distantly, on another continent, battling demigods fought more so against the power she exuded than against each other. Her mageia tore into the sky, pulling the armies of the stars from the heavens and the great sphere of the moon where Selene took shelter began to move out of its orbit.
Hermes stood at her side with a smile that was just as bright as it was dark for this was his blessing. She who had trained with gods and kings to make way to become a god and queen. And still, she was not finished, energy wafting over in her waves of green, attacked all of the six-armed Earthborn around her that went from being six-armed to having no arms at all. The earth shook under her as she moved, and the wide-blossomed Gaea trembled in pain, and astounding heat seized Khaos, and the boundless sea rang terribly around.
"Let the Skies above me tremble;" she cackled, Lævateinn spinning about in her hand. "The Mountains below shake with Rage! I am the mother of witchcraft, bringer of storms, I am Olympian-born. Daughter of Poseidon Aigaion. The Twice-Blessed Enchantress and the Walker of Worlds. Princen Meinsvarra of Poseiria, Kállos of Neritum, Alkina of Spártā, Anesidora of Troia, Mārkī́ōn of Siracusa, Véra of Aegium, Alékos of Dymae, Dímitra of Kroton, Malivina of Rize, Aurelia of Korinthos, Clara of Giouchtas, Cordelia of Vathypetros, Kaia of Kalpaki, Stéla of Mesimvria, Rhḗnē of Dyrhacchion, Adrianós of Yithion, Anastasía of Ilyria, Marînos of Akroinοn. The world must tremble when speaks Sea-Bred Leaneíras!"
Lost to the full might of her power, it pulsed out into waves sending strength to her allies and the deities, beings of immeasurable power, found themselves growing almost impossibly stronger as if she had bestowed upon them millennia worth of unfiltered worship in one blow. At that precise moment, she was a sight not meant to be viewed upon by a mortal frame for they could not endure the tumult of the heavens, as lightning flashed, and thunder shook.
Her Father, the storm bringer, who stood at the side of his son, as they battled two twin giants; smiled proudly at her. She, rich-haired Leaneíras, an enchanting goddess with shining hair, with human speech and with strange mahō; earth-shaking Perseus that bares a brave heart was her brother. She laughs and she cackles as she bears down on the enemy, and the mortals stare at her in awe. The twin giants stumbled, and Poseidon's trident morphed into a fire hose, and the god sprayed the giants out of the Parthenon with a high-powered blast in the shape of wild horses.
"Where have you been, sis?" Percy asked, riding upon a storm underneath his feet.
"Here and there and everywhere," she breathed, eyes sparking a golden-green.
"Sounds like your trauma is more fun than mine."
"Oh, you have no idea."
Her mageia built more and more in power and a great shaking of the earth came on, and those that lived within Haides trembled, and the Titanes banished back under Tartaros trembled to the dread encounter and the unending clamour. Cyclopes were felled, the orbs in their eyes decorating her dress.
Not too far from she and Hermes, Aphrodite jumped down from her dainty chariot, winged by her swans and casted aside her gleaming helmet. Behind her, the bridal swarm of the Erotes, each of them taking their own opponents and cutting through them. Drew paid it no notice as she fenced with a giantess, sword against sword. In the back of her mind, Leaneíras was impressed. Drew hated sword fighting even if she was skilled in it. Whenever the giantess tried to strike, doves rose up from nowhere and fluttered in the giantess's face. Aphrodite crossed the battlefield in long strides, doing nothing to disguise the lethal grace she hid by her various dresses and regal restraint. Daggers flash in her hands and magic in her eyes and the giantess backed away in fear. Imposing and intimidating, the power that Aphrodite wield had almost an ozone smell and the pressure demanded reverence.
In that moment of hesitance, Drew's charm sank into her. "You want to rule the world," the Daughter of Aphrodite mocked, throwing herself into the air with a loud whistle. In the next moment, Ginevre appeared, and her best friend mounted the pegasus, her arrows now flying from the sky as fast as the raindrops from the storms she conjured. "Aw, well. I wanted my biological father to love me. You can't get everything that you ask for, so Periboia, do me a favor. KIᒪᒪ EᑌᖇYᗰEᗪOᑎ."
Aphrodite laughed in delight, spinning around to kick at a giant that attempted to sneak upon them. He fell backwards, a hole in the middle of his forehead the size of a baseball, and he immediately fell to an onslaught of an attack by Medea's mageia.
Leaneíras could no longer view where the other gods went, but whenever a giant stumbled and fell the ground broke open, and the giant was snapped up and swallowed. The grass around them grew and strangled others, yanking them further and further away from the Parthenon whenever one tried to break away to attack it, clawing into the striking them through with grape vines and sheafs of wheat. Some of the giants had turned upon each other, clawing at each other in madness as they ripped the skin off one another and tore into the earth around them.
Green and green and greener was the only thing she could see, losing herself to her power. Waves and waves of energy waft from around her, seeping into the land under her feet and the air around her. Shades crawled their way from the netherworld, reaching out to her to resemble a sweeping cloak dotted with stars until... until it was obvious that it was not stars that they were seeing, but eyes. Eyes the same shade of green as Leaneíras' own. Blood was streaming down her face. The gates of the heavens flew open, pouring into Leaneíras like a roaring waterfall. Power sank into her body, ancient in a way that not even time could touch. A power born from death.
Absently, Leaneíras knew that if they kept going like this then there was a chance that the world would be left in ruin, leaving nothing but the deathless gods to reign supreme.
Absently, Leaneíras knew that when one refuse to recognize the wild forces within them, they were overwhelmed by their power.
She had been refusing herself since the moment that she learned about the gods; only giving the barest reprieve during the titan war.
Now... well...
Leaneíras didn't care at the moment.
Her mageia pooling around her hands and Lævateinn sliced through the air, clanging metal sounded as she and Hermes crossed their weapons and blasts of divinity tore into the monsters. She stood over the ashes of serpent-legged dracaenae and laughed as she weaved the strands of her hair together because she will win the war.
Her mind clouded with rage as her blood sang the song of eternity, and the world screamed in fear as a clap of thunder boomed across the world as if a bomb of atomic proportions exploded. The heavens opened its doors even further and gave way to ferocious winds and waves that turned into a howling storm. Mortals ran for cover as the winds were tyrants, roaring and groaning as they attacked the earth with its sharp blades. Rolling clouds came crashing down, and streaks of lightning danced across the land twirling about the various monsters.
As Leaneíras called upon the trailing clouds and massed a storm, with lightning in the squalls, and thunder and the bolts that never missed, she and Hermes found themselves not too far from where Annabeth was fighting alongside Athena and her divine-raised Father, Diomedes. The goddess thrust her spear at a giant, then brandished her shield with the fearsome bronzed visage of Medusa. Together, Athena and Annabeth drove the giant back into the nearest wall of metal scaffolding, which collapsed on top of him. Diomedes guarded their back against the monstrous beasts that the giant attempted to use to assist him, destroying some and pushing the others back until they found themselves being smashed through by Ares with his spear and shield. The war god laughed and stabbed and disemboweled like a kid destroying piñatas.
Drew shot passed her on the back of Geneivre: "Hey, Enceladus!" and Leaneíras felt the charm woven into her voice resonate within her soul. "KILL YOUR BRETHREN!"
The ugly ship above them, trembled in the air as it was caught in her storm before it smoothly started to sail when Kírkē appeared upon it, for her mageia would always recognize her teacher. That other kid, the one that Drew had saved, was racing across the deck of the Argo II, shooting ballistae, dropping hammers on the giants' heads and blowtorching their loincloths. Behind him at the helm, a burly bearded guy in a mechanic's uniform was tinkering with the controls, furiously trying to keep the ship aloft.
Another giant was being bludgeoned to death by three old ladies with brass clubs— the Fates, her mind supplied—armed for war. Though, it was more impressive when one of them wrapped thread around his throat before throwing him into the air where he was hit with a lightning bolt filled with mageia though whose, Leaneíras would never be able to recall, and hit the ground into ashes after Medea appeared to rip his head off.
Leaneíras cackled, jumping off the back of Salome to fly into the air, twirling alongside Hermes in a dance to music that only she could hear as her blood fed the lands around them. She was glorious, eyes a sinister green somehow, ominous in the darkened skies that gave proof of her rage, wind whipping her hair around her face, grief and agony and anger writ in every movement.
And her Uncle who delights in the thunderbolt, fought at the side of his son against a giant utilizing a spear in a whirlwind of swipes, jabs and slashes. Zeus, the God of gods, slashed across the giant's path, his lightning bolt appeared as a bronze rod a metre long, pointed on both ends, with blades of energy extending from both sides to form a javelin of white electricity.
"No throne for you," Zeus growled as the giant collapsed into a makeshift throne, which crumbled under his weight. "Not here. Not ever."
"You cannot stop us!" the giant yelled. "It is done! The Earth Mother is awake!"
In answer, Zeus blasted the throne to rubble. The giant king flew backwards out of the temple and Jason ran after him, his father at his heels. Another giant appeared to intercept them, but they were blocked by Hera who twirled her lotus-tipped staff around, striking with every turn. The goddess didn't even blink when the giantess that Drew had charmed joined in to assist her, even as both monstrous being cried in pain from grief. Medea's mageia snaked around them, holding them in place as Hera knocked into them one... two... three... four times until they resembled building blocks.
Leaneíras and Hermes danced around the battlefield, taking down monsters and laughing in delight as they went. Around the world, mortals trembled, and they wonder was this what the end of the world looked like. As the earth rumbled, and the skies wept, as nature unleashed its fury upon mankind.
Leaneíras shone so brightly and the land around her was demolished and yet every step she took, the world realigned itself, returning to its pristine condition in a never-ending circle of creation and destruction.
Not too far away, the giant that battled her Uncle, lashed out wildly with his spear, but Jason cut it in half as he charged in, jabbing his sword through the giant's breastplate, then summoned the winds and blasted the monster off the edge of the cliff. As the giant fell, screaming, Zeus pointed his lightning bolt. An arc of pure white heat vaporized the giant in midair. His ashes drifted down in a gentle cloud, dusting the tops of the olive trees on the slopes of the Acropolis.
And then the world stood still.
Nothing was left of the giants except heaps of ash, a few spears and some burning dreadlocks. The other demigods stood in the midst of the temple, all in various stages of distress. Leaneíras found herself standing with them, dropping gently from the sky with golden ichor still pouring from her veins. Around them, the gods fanned out in a semicircle as Zeus approached.
And truthfully, any other day, Lea would have probably cared to listen to what he had to say. Probably. As of now... after everything that she had been through, all the different lives that she had lived, the siblings that she met and lost, the love that grew within her and withered, the fact that she had to kill herself to get this far...
She turned towards Hermes from where he stood by the temples entrance. Crossing the temple in long strides, doing nothing to disguise the lethal grace she gained, Leaneíras stepped into his space, close enough for him to grab her by the waist, but she paid it no mind. Her hands cradled his face as she stood to her tiptoes to kiss him. It's rushed at first, almost desperate—hungry, the way she releases her breath only to take him in; his lips, soft in the way she imagined them to be, his hand on her waist squeezing. The world fades away around them as his kisses turn deeper, more languid, lips moving against hers slowly, savoring. His hand slotted itself in the area between her ear and her jawline, tilting her head up slightly as he leaned in to kiss her.
For it to be their very first kiss; despite his attempts before, it was nothing short of perfection.
Neither of them seemed to care that their Fathers, their aunts, and uncles; their siblings and his cousins, and their friends were watching them. When he kissed her… the rest of the world simply fell away.
And when she broke the kiss, scant minutes later, leaning her forehead against his as she kept their noses touching. It's impossible to tell how Hermes looks, but she had a hunch with how he's breathing so heavily; the greens of his eyes darker like nature in the midst of twilight, darkened almost black, turned on by desire—the same one settling deep in her stomach, aching, needy.
This was her Hermes; her blessing from khaos. Hers. Hers. Hers.
A wolf whistled sounded behind them, and she could absently hear Medea and Drew cheering, but again, Leaneíras cared nothing about that. Her Uncle was speaking, Leaneíras was sure of that, but her gaze was still on Hermes, and suddenly, it felt hot. Now that the adrenaline was leaving her, and she wasn't being chased down by a pair of twins scarier than the Grady sisters, she could feel the flames licking inside of her torso. They started in her chest, centering around her mark and the wound of her throat, but it was slowly licking outward towards her limbs.
"Brethren," Zeus said, "we are healed, thanks to the work of these demigods. The Trojan Palladium now stands at Camp Half-Blood. It has united our offspring, and thus our own essences."
There was still an overwhelming heat coursing through her veins, faster and faster as her heart stopped pumping, and her blood; oh aliens', her blood was no longer red. Leaneíras forced herself to put it to the back of her mind; there was no need to panic. No one seemed to notice, not even Hermes who held onto her like he was trying to meld their body into one.
Thunder shook the Acropolis as Zeus turned to his wife when Leaneíras tuned back into the world around her. "Hḗrē, do not dare take credit! You have caused at least as many problems as you've fixed!"
The queen of heaven blanched. "Husband, surely you see now—this was the only way."
"There is never only one way!' Zeus bellowed. 'That is why there are three Fates, not one. Is this not so?'
By the ruins of the giant king's throne, the three old ladies silently bowed their heads in recognition. They stared intently at Leaneíras, and she scowled, knowing that somehow, they were the reason that the flames within her spread like a wildfire.
"Please, husband. I only did what I—"
"Silence!' Zeus snapped. "You disobeyed my orders. Nevertheless ... I recognize that you acted with honest intentions. The valour of these seven heroes has proven that you were not entirely without wisdom."
Hera looked like she wanted to argue, but she kept her mouth shut. Better than Leaneíras. He just called her a dumbass, and Leaneíras had argued people down for less than that.
"Surely, Father,' Artemis said, cutting into the conversation, 'we should attend to our more pressing problems, as you pointed out."
"Gaia,' Annabeth chimed in, clearly anxious to change the topic. "She's awake, isn't she?"
"That is correct," Zeus said as he turned towards her. "The blood of Olympos was spilled. She is fully conscious."
"Oh, come on!' Percy complained, and Leaneíras found herself smiling at the whine in his voice. "I get a little nosebleed and I wake up the entire earth? That's not fair!"
Athena shouldered her aegis. "Complaining of unfairness is like assigning blame, Percy Jackson. It does no one any good." She turned to Leaneíras, eyes lingering on the wound at her throat. "Now you must move quickly. Gaía rises to destroy your camp."
Poseidon leaned on his trident. "For once, Athḗnē is right."
"For once?' Athena protested.
"Why would Gaia be back at camp?" Leo, that was his name!— yes, the tinkerer, asked. "Percy's nosebleed was here."
"Dude," Percy said, "first off, you heard Athena — don't blame my nose. Second, Gaia's the earth. She can pop up anywhere she wants. Besides, she told us she was going to do this. She said the first thing on her to-do list was destroying our camp. Question is: how do we stop her?"
The blond boy, Octavian? Leaneíras thought, Livia's brother looked at Zeus. "Um, sir, Your Majesty, can't you gods just pop over there with us? You've got the chariots and the magic powers and whatnot."
"Yes!' Medea said. "We defeated the giants together in two seconds. I don't think Lea and I have enough strength to teleport all of us right now so let's all go—"
"No," Zeus and Leaneíras said flatly. Two different reasons of course. Leaneíras wasn't teleporting anywhere else. She had enough of that to last lifetimes and she lived lifetimes. And secondly, she was overflowing with too much strength just as the heat seemed to melt her brains.
"No?' Jason asked. "But, Father—"
"That's the problem with prophecies," Zeus growled as his eyes sparked with power. "When Apóllōn allowed the Prophecy of Seven to be spoken, and when Hḗrē took it upon herself to interpret the words, the Fates wove the future in such a way that it had only so many possible outcomes, so many solutions. You seven, the demigods, are destined to defeat Gaía. We, the gods, cannot."
Apóllōn scowled. "Again, if I may speak, Father, this prophecy has been known for decades."
"I don't get it," Drew said, pouting. "What's the point of being gods if you have to rely on puny mortals to do your bidding?"
All the gods exchanged dark looks. Aphrodite, however, laughed gently and kissed her daughter while Apóllōn ruffled her hair. "My dear Drewdrop, don't you think we've been asking ourselves that question for thousands of years? But it is what binds us together, keeps us eternal. We need you mortals as much as you need us. Annoying as that may be, it's the truth."
Leaneíras looked at her best friend, smiling softly. "It is because they are forces of nature. They are destruction and creation, order and chaos, Barbarism and civilizations, the beginnings and the endings. They are gods, deities, beings of power on a scale that we can't even mentally conceive. And then, there is us. Human vessels that have their power in our veins but tainted with mortality. We are the bridges that connect deities with humanity just as we connect mortals with the divine."
"So, you understand what is happening," one of the Fates stated. Childishly, Leaneíras stuck her tongue out at them. Hermes chuckled, tightening his hold on her and seemingly ignoring the blood—the ichor on her skin.
Medea shuffled uncomfortably. "So how can we possibly get to Camp Half-Blood in time to save it? It took us months to reach Greece."
Months? Gods, what day was it even?
"The winds," Jason said. "Father, can't you unleash the winds to send our ship back?"
Zeus glowered. "I could slap you back to Long Island."
"Um, was that a joke, or a threat, or—"
Leaneíras and Hermes snickered.
"No," Zeus said, "I mean it quite literally. I could slap your ship back to Camp Half-Blood, but the force involved ..."
Over by the ruined giant throne, the grungy god in the mechanic's uniform shook his head. "My boy Leo built a good ship, but it won't sustain that kind of stress. It would break apart as soon as it arrived, maybe sooner."
Leo straightened his tool belt. "The Argo II can make it. It only has to stay in one piece long enough to get us back home. Once there, we can abandon ship."
"Dangerous," warned Hephaestus. "Perhaps fatal."
As if Leaneíras' mageia couldn't hold it together through sheer will, and forced back into its pristine condition like the way her mageia was saturating the air and healing the damaged from the battle.
The golden winged goddess twirled a laurel wreath on her finger. "Victory is always dangerous. And it often requires sacrifice. Leo Valdez and I have discussed this." She stared pointedly at Leo.
"Leo," Annabeth said, "what is Nike talking about?"
Leo waved off the question. "The usual. Victory. Sacrifice. Blah, blah, blah. Doesn't matter. We can do this, guys. We have to do this."
A feeling of dread settled over Leaneíras as she came to an abrupt realization. They wanted her to get on that thing. It was like the words suddenly started to make sense in her head. Seriously, a flying ship? Leaneíras had to draw the line somewhere and anything above where she could reach out and touch the ground was a line she wasn't crossing. She didn't even like riding on the back of pegasi, and she didn't like Magnus' flying ship either.
Jason made the choice. "Leo's right. All aboard for one last trip."
She should've taken her chance teleporting.
WORD COUNT: 5467
THINGS TO KNOW:
1) Eurumédōn was one of the kings of the gigantes. He is the father of Periboía (who was is also the mother of Nausíthoos by Poseidón). He brought destruction on his people and was himself destroyed.
COMMENTS FROM THE AUTHOR:
1) Lea is pissed and injured and raging mad and literally in the process of ascending.
1A) She is also technically dead. She not only sliced her throat opened, but her heart has failed her! She kept her oath to her final breath. Literally even if her mageia was holding her together.
1B) Lea who thought she managed to avoid flying ships back in the BOTL arc and now seeing the ARGO II: Am I joke to you?
2) No one is punished because that is stupid. The damn prophecy was known long before Rachel recited it. Apóllōn can't prematurely reveal something that was already fucking revealed.
3) I got a bad habit of making the mortals in this verse consistently believe that they are in the end days. I can just imagine the articles being posted about the rapture and ragnarok and armageddon. LMFAOOO.
3A) Them: the world supposed to end in 2012.
3B) Lea: its 2010 and I'm tired of this shit grandpa
3C) Her Uncle Ζεύς: Well, that's too damn bad!
4) One thing that I want to say is how Nico, Thalia, and Percy all received trauma or fear in regard to their powers. (Drowning, becoming a shadow, heights) And then you have Lea, who already had this fear of her powers, who has overcome that trauma and fear and is leaning completely into it.