Destiny of Fire (A Heroes of Olympus Fanfic)

Chapter 1

"Leo Valdez."

That was what Leo heard when he felt himself shoot upright in his bed, as sweat beaded on his forehead. His heart was pounding fast, as his brain processed what was going on... the dream he just awoke from... and the voice that was calling out to him. This had been a trend for the past few weeks... the dreams got worse, and so did the voice calling out to him.

The woman haunted his dreams was relentless... seemed to know every bit of Leo's emotional weak spots. He knew who she was, and that was the scary part. Leo knew he should tell someone, but what was there to say? Leo was already the outsider of the ship, there was no use in telling them about his dreams. Besides, what are they supposed to do with this information? They'd probably dismiss it for normal demigod dreams.

No. He'd just deal with it alone... like he always did.

He stared out his window, watching his ship sail over the clouds. Sleep was rare enough for him as is, as he was the designated "repair boy," but with these dreams worsening, his moments of sleep became rarer and rarer...

A knock on his door snapped him out of his thoughts. He blinked before saying, "Who is it?"

"Does it matter?" A female voice called back.

Piper.

"Come in."

Piper was Leo's best friend, and the person he trusted with everything. Though, lately, it felt like that wasn't the case, as the grew further and further apart, and Piper grew closer to Jason. Leo smiled, his normal devilish grin, trying to hide any evidence of his previous distress. He was almost scared she would see right through him. Yet, if Piper noticed he was upset, she didn't acknowledge it. Leo knew he shouldn't take it personally if Piper left his pain was left unsaid, but still, he couldn't help but hope someone would take notice.

"We need to talk about Khione."

Right. Khione had somehow knocked him unconscious in the middle of the fight, leaving him laying useless on the floor. He was luck Piper was there to save his ass- and  everyone's ass for that matter.

"What about her?" Leo asked, hoping to get his mind off the voice that loomed in his ear.

Piper looked down, "She may have frozen some of the controls."

Right. Nobody would be in his room if something wasn't wrong with the ship. Leo nodded, and stated, "I will see what I can do."

"Perfect."

With that, Piper left... which was the usual. Leo understood that there was a war arising, but having an actual conversation with someone would be nice. He then walked out and made his way to the controls. As he walked past his friends' rooms.

"Leo, it's almost time to make your decision."

"For Hephaestus's sake, I've already made my decision!"

He said it out loud- the voice was irritating him so much, that he screamed at it out loud. Luckily nobody heard, because they would undoubtedly deem him insane if they did. Or, at least he thought nobody heard him, before turning around and seeing Nico di Angelo observing him closely.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked.

Leo shrugged, "I'll be fine."

"Okay..."

He could tell that Nico didn't quite believe him, but Leo was truly grateful for the concern, even if he and Nico weren't that close. Even if it was only for a brief amount of time.

As he made his way to the controls, with his toolbelt, he couldn't help but wonder why the voice was so interested in him of all people. Leo was never used to being anyone's first choice, which normally bothered him, but in this case, he would much rather be the second choice. It took Leo a little while to navigate through the controls, but eventually he figured it out.

When he opened the door, he immediately came face to face to with... Piper and Jason making out. Piper's eyes widened when she saw him, and she snapped, "Leo!"

Normally Leo would quip a quick apology and turn the other way, but he didn't have the energy to even acknowledge the situation. I mean, for goodness sake if the couple wanted to make out that badly, then they should do so in their own cabins. Leo knew it was harsh, but he simply brushed past the couple, no uttering a word.

Then, he heard them begin to whisper, undoubtedly about him, but Leo honestly didn't care anymore. He was tired, frustrated and cranky... and worst of all, he felt unsafe inside his own body. It sucked, because he had only recently accepted his power, after years of feeling resentful, but he couldn't help but feel anxious as the voice grew worse and worse.

"Remember the plan, Leo."

Shut up.

Leo knew he shouldn't feed into the voice... but it was getting on his nerves.

He made his way to the dining hall... maybe a glass of water was what he needed. Leo hated water, he always had. There was nothing necessarily wrong with it, it was just boring in his opinion. He needed to drink more water, though.

When he walked into the dining room, Hazel, Frank and Nico sat around a table, discussing something, but the second he walked in, they stopped. Leo was already paranoid as it was, but he got a deep suspicion that they were talking about him. Perhaps Nico had told them he was insane for yelling at himself earlier.

"He-hey." He said, trying to make as little eye contact as possible, as he made his way to the fridge to get water. This caused Hazel to look at him suspiciously.

"You don't drink water."

"Yeah... thought I would try something new..."

They seemed to take it, and he immediately heard their whispers continue as he left, and he was certain he heard his name. Great. He had to worry about the voice talking shit to him, and his friends talking shit about him.

As he entered his room, he took a deep breath.

"Leo."

And with that, he laid down on his bed, prepared for a night of torture. He couldn't deal with this right now.

He couldn't deal with Gaea, the voice in his head.