𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐀'𝐒 𝐁𝐎𝐗! heroes of olympus²

iv. boy in the bubble

chapter four!
004. boy in the bubble

leo

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    LEO FELT LIKE he was going to cry.

    He clenched his hands and forced the lump deep back inside his throat. He couldn't look Annabeth in the eye, feeling like the air had left him alone▬and he couldn't breathe. He could make many things, but the one thing he wished for painfully, was the ability to invent a time machine▬a way to go back before it all happened and stop himself. To never step foot onto this ship. To tell them no, please, I will ruin everything. (Like always). Just so he couldn't feel this horrific guilt that ate him up inside to feel the burn of the gaze Annabeth sent him.

    She was trying to be calm and understand. She was trying to be gentle, but he could hear the curtness in her voice▬the way her words clipped and her breaths were sharp through her nose. He could hear the anger, the disappointment, the betrayal and the distrust▬he has learnt how to hear it; he was used to it.

    "One more time," she said again, lips pursed. "Exactly what happened?"

    Leo slumped against the mast. His head fell into his arms and down against his knees. His heart pounded and his eyes stung▬he could feel his cheeks burn with frustration and shame; or maybe his tears had finally broke through. He had a pounding headache, like someone had hit him with a hammer. All around him, his ship▬the ship he had worked on, found a purpose in; that made him feel important and needed, was barely keeping aloft. The aft crossbows were piles of kindling, the foresail was tattered. Festus was laughing up smoke like had a hairball. The engine he put his heart and soul into wheezed, exhausted and struggling.

    (And it was all his fault).

    He choked back a sob. Leo clenched his eyes shut, hating how Annabeth was seeing him like this▬how everyone who stood here was seeing him like this. Weak, incapable, guilty. "I▬I don't know," he muttered miserably. "You have to believe me, I don't know▬" he clenched his hands when he felt more tears. "It's▬it's all fuzzy."

    Beside him, Savreen sat with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Leo wasn't sure whether she was here for him, or to make sure no one attacked him out of anger▬he wasn't exactly sure which one he wanted. Her dark hair had fallen out of her ponytail and she hadn't bothered to pull it back. There were a few cuts and scratches on her cheeks and arms from flying pebbles and plates. She looked tearful herself▬scared, even▬but was trying hard not to show it. But she wore her heat on her sleeve. Leo's stomach twisted. He had done that to her. He had caused the attack that hurt her. (What would she think of him, now? What would they all think? Would he be kicked out? Would they throw him to the gutter like everyone else has done before).

     There were too many people looking at him. Annabeth with her steel, iron gaze, Coach Hedge who didn't look any happier, and the newcomer, Frank.

     Leo wasn't sure what to make of Frank. At first glance, he didn't seem at all intimidating. He had a kind face, kind eyes, and a shy stance that couldn't exactly meet him in the eye, either. But even while his memory was hazy, he vividly recalled this extraordinary, terrifying dragon land on the ship▬and that dragon had turned into Frank.

    Annabeth continued to frown. She crossed her arms, "You mean you don't remember?"

   "I..." he wanted to kick himself. He felt as if he was trying to swallow a marble. He didn't know what happened. He didn't. He felt as if he had watched it all happened▬a ghost unable to touch; unable to stop himself from destroying everything they've worked for. Everything he worked for. "I remember," he admitted, upset. "But it▬it was like I was watching myself do things. I couldn't control it."