LEO DESERVED A DUNCE CAP…right underneath them
"Nobody blames you for being so rattled. A lot had happened in very less time which is taxing even by our standards." Percy told Leo gently.
"Yeahh but you know, I had one job." Leo sighed.
"I could say that I had only one job which was to find the Parthenos but that doesn't mean that having only one job makes everything easier. You took the weight of keeping the entire ship intact onto yourself plus, all the additional stuff that you did with the side quests and everything. Missing to turn on the sonar is a very minute detail that is very easy to forget especially with everything that happened to you just a few hours before." Annabeth told Leo comfortingly. Leo nodded finally.
"Yeah, I guess so."
The ship tilted to starboard…he forgot how to move.
Hephaestus sighed as he felt Leo's fear creep into him and Hades grimaced as he felt Hazel's nausea.
The thing was the length…had the displeasure to behold.
Triton and Poseidon winced at the description, having a good idea what the monster was but they didn't say it out loud. The reaction of the two gods was enough to make it known that Leo wasn't exaggerating.
Leo remembered special…"What's going— Gah! Shrimpzilla!"
Everybody broke out laughing.
"Shrimpzilla? Really?" Triton asked Percy in amusement.
"I call them as I see them." Percy grinned at him.
Frank ran to Hazel's side…I forgot the sonar!"
"Relax, Leo. Everybody forgets something or the other." Nico told Leo who nodded sullenly.
The ship tilted farther to starboard…"What?" Frank yelped.
"The coach just had to say that." Travis groaned.
"It wasn't like that…shape he was in.
Zeus and Hera felt Jason's exhaustion hit them. Zeus rolled his shoulders and Hera leaned against the couch back.
"I'm not the best with the lightning aspect of my powers. I work better with wind." Jason admitted. "Summoning lightning too frequently takes its toll. I'm sorry." He said.
"There's literally no need to apologize. Everybody has their limit." Hazel told him with a smile.
"Percy!" Annabeth said…him crashing down the steps
Poseidon grimaced as the curse flowed through him.
Another wrapped around…creaked like it might snap off.
"Uh oh." Tyson grimaced.
"Yeah. Shrimpzillas are annoying." Leo grumbled
They needed more firepower…"A bad one."
"Those are the ones which always work." Percy grinned at Leo and the two high fived.
"Never leave them with matches without adult supervision." Silena chuckled.
"I'm adult supervision now." Percy grinned smugly.
"Shit. He got that defense now." Beckendorf groaned playfully.
The monster pushed against…knocking him overboard.
Ares sighed as he was drenched immediately.
Hazel screamed…vials she was holding.
"Nonono." The Stolls freaked out as did the other Greeks who were not on the ship.
"That's Greek fire." Grover squeaked.
Leo caught them.
Everybody let out a sigh of relief at that.
"Good reflexes." Hermes said to Leo approvingly.
Each was the size of an apple…Hazel struggled.
Hades and Hephaestus grimaced as they felt the wind knocked out of them due to the tentacle of the Shrimpzilla.
Her arms were pinned..."Do you trust me?" "No!"
There were a few snorts of amusement at that, one from Leo himself.
"Same here." He snickered.
"Me neither," Leo admitted…fire straight down its throat.
"You both are downright insane." Thalia declared, pointing at Leo and Percy.
"Yeah, we're built that way." Leo snickered and Percy nodded in complete agreement.
After that, things got…himself losing consciousness.
Hephaestus struggled to face the feeling of what seemed like drowning creep into him as he tried to retain consciousness while the curse made him feel like he was on the brink.
Through the sting of the…Leo blacked out.
Hephaestus rubbed his chest as he felt like his lungs were on fire from holding in his breath for too long.
When Leo woke…wasn't thrilled about it.
Frank tried to look annoyed at Leo but he couldn't help it when he burst out laughing, surprising a few people.
"I love that description for whatever reason." He wheezed out and clapped a grinning Leo on the shoulder.
The only exit to the…your ship than your friends."
"Dude, what the hell?" Piper demanded, looking at Frank who winced.
"I'm sorry, Leo. I don't mean that." He told Leo apologetically.
"Its fine." Leo said
"No its not. What the hell. You can't just say that. I get that you're confused and mad but that is so out of line. He was the one who risked his life to throw that vial into the monster's mouth and almost died of drowning seeing as not everybody can turn into any animal they want but he still took that risk. He was more worried about everybody aboard than anything else. You can't say whatever the hell you want without even knowing the truth. Besides, you weren't even aboard when everything happened. You literally have no right to say what you just did. What if he said something like that to you? Genuinely, what makes you think that you can get away with all that you're saying to Leo or about him?" Pollux snapped at Frank who hung his head in shame.
"Also, where do you think it gets you by blaming Leo for whatever happened to the others on the ship? You're all a team there. Besides, what were you doing to make sure that the others weren't getting hurt, huh?" Beckendorf asked Frank angrily. He'd had enough of Frank looking at Leo as if he was some sort of outcast.
Frank was rendered speechless but he knew that he had to say something to try his best and fix whatever hurt he had caused Leo.
"I know that a simple apology won't suffice, man but I really am so so sorry for saying that and putting the blame of something that didn't rest with anybody onto you. I know its no excuse but I was angry and I wanted to blame somebody so that I wouldn't feel guilty about what happened on the ship. Plus, the coach's matters didn't help because I was already feeling insecure about my whole relationship because nobody had ever felt that way about me. But no matter what, I should not have said what I did and I shouldn't have made you feel like an outcast or that it was all your fault because it wasn't. I'm really sorry, Leo." Frank said, almost pleadingly. Leo took a deep breath as he processed Frank's words.
"Its all right man. It happened before and I really don't want to dwell on all of that. I wasn't in the best place of mind and I just really want to move past all of that now. We're friends now and eventually, we did sort out our problems. What happened, happened and we can't change that now. But thank you for apologizing. It does mean a lot." Leo smiled at him and Frank nodded gratefully, glad that what he had said wouldn't change his relationship with Leo in the present.
Leo felt like his face…I totally jacked things up.
"No, you did not." Percy told Leo, sternly. He knew, personally, how it felt to feel like he'd messed everything up and he did not want Leo to feel the same way when it wasn't even his fault. Nobody should ever feel as beat up as Leo was feeling at that moment.
The sternness in Percy's voice brought Leo to reality as he took in the whole situation. He knew it wasn't his fault but he couldn't help but a small voice in his head wouldn't stop reminding him that all this wouldn't have happened had he turned on the sonar.
He took a deep breath…before he was even born.
Leo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He still had mixed feelings about Hera. On one hand, he resented her for interfering in his life for so long that she had even interfered with his great-grandfather but at the same time, he felt like she was the only one who had ever cared for him in his childhood apart from his mother. She had been an aunt to him when most of his family had abandoned him and she kept faith in him even when nobody else had. His mother had always believed in him but Hera had been the one who had tried to make him believe in himself.
"Why?" is all Leo asked Hera who looked taken aback, not anticipating the son of Hephaestus to say anything at all.
"Because you were always destined for being the best of your family." She answered.
"No, I'm not asking 'why me', I'm asking why did you do all of this? Why did you get involved with my family? I wasn't even born. Why?" Leo asked, his voice cracking with emotion. Hephaestus didn't say anything but felt his son's pain even though there was no curse and squeezed Leo's shoulder reassuringly, wishing that he could build something that would help Leo find all the answers he had ever needed but he knew that that was something one should never mess with.
"Hazel had always been involved in this prophecy before it even came to our notice officially but the minute that Hazel had been exposed to Gaia, it was clear that the giants were going to be back. After finding out that your family would have a pyromancer in the direct line of Sammy Valdez, I let him know so that you and Hazel would share some sort of connection. Of course, I did not know that the prophecy would involve 7 demigods and so showing your great grandfather the vision did not really have the impact it might have had." Hera explained. Some people looked taken aback that Hera had answered in a way that made sense but Leo was always one of the people that Hera had taken a liking to and treated him like she actually was his aunt. Leo nodded as if that explanation satisfied him.
"But it was still a risk to show a mortal a vision of the future. It could have been catastrophic." Apollo pointed out to Hera.
"He had already had a certain level of exposure. He wouldn't be impacted as bad as a mortal with no knowledge or suspicion of the gods." Hera countered. Apollo tilted his head and nodded, conceding that Hera did have a point.
If Hazel had stayed in the…her great-grandson.
Leo and Hazel turned green at the thought.
"Oh, man…really know them?
"It takes time especially when you're involved in a project as big as the Argo II." Beckendorf chuckled lightly.
"Yeah, we're great now." Leo grinned.
"Also, you're family too." Jason smiled at Leo who grinned widely.
If Leo had a family…thin veil of flame
Poseidon winced at that. "There's a light layer of Oxygen there and that will not help you keep that flame under easy control especially since its going to affect your breathing." He warned Leo.
"Yeah." Leo sighed.
"I guess that's what happened?"
"Yep." Leo confirmed.
He tried to breathe…as far away as possible.
Hephaestus' breathing grew rapid as he felt Leo's breathlessness caused due to him inhaling the heat while Ares felt Frank's panic and fear at seeing the fire and he took a deep breath.
Leo forced himself…things burned.
"Everybody's powers lash out sometimes. They're a part of us and when we get angry, a part of us lashes out. Don't be scared of it. And don't blame yourself for your mom because that was sure as hell not your fault." Apollo told Leo calmly but sternly so that he'd understand it.
"Sorry I laughed… "Wow, high praise."
Frank grimaced. He hadn't meant it to sound that harsh.
"My weakness…look so much like Chiron.
Chiron chuckled. "We aren't too different either." He said.
He looked more like…fish-horse guys.
"Don't piss them off and don't call them 'fish horse guys'." Triton pleaded Leo who gave him a sheepish smile.
"I don't let my intrusive thoughts win that much." He chuckled.
"I am Bythos…creature just talk to me?
"More surprise out of the fact that not only did you ask him something, you asked a question as if you demanded the answer." Amphitrite explained to Leo.
"I kind of did." Leo answered with a raised eyebrow. Amphitrite chuckled.
"Hence the surprise."
"You, Leo Valdez…"Try not to make Aphros mad."
"You didn't pull a Percy and say anything that would make him mad, did you?" Thalia asked Leo with concern.
"Hey!" Percy protested but even he was trying not to smile. Leo snickered at Thalia's comment.
"I guess you're just going to have to find out." The son of Hephaestus smirked at her, causing Thalia to groan.
"Chapter's done." Poseidon smiled, holding up the book.
"I'll read." Zeus said.