madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-letters from the past-

Oh my gods the trailer that came out yesterday for the show 👀

His hands shook and he pulled them out of the pockets of his toolbelt, three pieces of grimy and torn paper up paper falling into his lap.

One of them were screwed up into a ball, the other two folded up neatly, and Leo's nails dug into his arms leaving indents shaped like crescent moons until he took a shaky breath and reached for the one in a ball that was slowly unfolding itself open like it'd only just been screwed up.

He opened it, immediately recognising the jarred scribble across the lined paper he recognised from one of his note pads.

it isnt your fault

please dont blame yourself i had to stop niko from coming down hear again you cant be angry at yourself because itd just make me sad cause you didnt do anything wrong and your too pretty to hate yourself

were alive but you probably know that unless connor decided to be a dickhead but i reckon i threatened him pretty good also when we get out of this shitpit im gonna TELL COACH TO FUCK OFF AND ALSO JASON CAUSE HELL TEASE ME kiss you so much like a lot but i should probably brush my teeth here bcs literally the air is like petrol mist or something its fucking crazy and i think i am too actually i shouldve eased into that

i love you :) im going fucking crazy

actually that worse nevermind but i do love you so much and the voices kind of suck their telling me that ill die down here but that's actually like the best case right now cause I could be immortal and that would suk ass bcs then id have to make u immortal and u wouldn't get to meet ur mum again anyway annabeths staring at me i think she wants the pen but wait did u send me that chocolate pudding cause that's cringe but it helped bcs I never would've thought of the toolbelt thing you look really hot in that by the way like you have such TELL EVERYONE TO FUCK OFF AGAIN PLS IM CRAZY BUT I HAVE DIGNITY ALSO HAZELS LIKE THIRTEEN OR SOMETHING you have such nice hips and im gonna kisz you so much wait I already said that im wasting paper but i cant use the other side bcs then everyonell see me writing about your hips their realy nice by the way percys looking at me weird do u reckon he knows im writing about ur hips

also shit what was i gonna say wait yeah can u ask pipe cleaner to make me a i went to hell and all i got was this stupid shirt shirt pls that wood be hilarious also this titan that totally hates me is helping us out two tell niko it's the bobby one and we got a cat two but tell leo that i love him more like the cat leo not the one i wanna kiss so bad also can u ask will what his mum likes cause im going to his house for the holidays and i gotta bring a present but i don't know what she liked appart from apollo so

I love u don't feel guilty also please sned more chocolate pudding even tho its cringe it tastes so good a lot better then day old sushi also percys peskatarian can u believe that lol

its me by the way to teqi i probably should've started with that actually bi bi ill be thinking of kissing u also ur totally blushing right now haha love u

XOXO

"Shit, Leo, why are you crying? Guys! He's crying, what do I do?"

Leo could hardly read the rest of the letter through his tears and the heat in his cheeks and how his face was cracked in half with a grin that made it even harder to cry. He held the letter tight in case Piper took it from him. He didn't want her to have it, he didn't want anyone to have it. It was his letter for him, and he was never gonna let go of it.

He grinned up at Piper with tears streaming down his face. She only looked confused, and Leo choked out a sob, rubbing his face with the back of his hand "she wants you to make a 'I went to hell and all I got was this stupid shirt' shirt."

"Holy shit." Piper stepped back with her hand over her mouth, her shiny brown eyes fading to purple, and she sunk to the ground against the banister of the Argo II. "How did you... they're okay. Holy shit."

"How does that even work?" Jason grinned, kneeling next to Leo and picking up one of the folded pieces of paper, "what else did she say? Are they near the doors?"

Leo reread the letter, but he knew he already had it memorised, and he doubted he'd ever forget it. "They're with a Titan called Bobby, and a cat, that was all... that was all she said about it."

"Bob?" Nico asked, his eyes wide. He looked like a shocked racoon, and Leo figured he probably did too with the bags under his eyes.

He shrugged, "she said to tell you it was... 'the bobby one'."

Nico shook his head in amazement, "he jumped down there? Why would he even, he should hate Percy, he wiped his memory and tricked him, why would he... never mind what else did she say? What's happening?"

"Uh," Leo glanced up at his friends, at their hopeful faces, and shrugged again. "Well, Percy's pescetarian, and she wants to know what Will's mum likes cause she's going to his house for the holidays..." Leo frowned, "and she said she got a chocolate pudding through a toolbelt, but I have it."

He blinked, and remembered taking Teqi's knife pouch off her, cutting one of the smaller pouches off his magic toolbelt and sewing it into the inside [he didn't sew it, he actually just stapled the edges in, but it's the thought that counts]. He looked down at his toolbelt in amazement. He'd always thought it was cool, but he'd secretly been a bit disappointed it couldn't summon weapons, or even chainsaws. He couldn't exactly fight with a screwdriver.

Leo wouldn't trade anything in the world for it now, except Teqi, Annabeth, and Percy, of course. He'd trade anything to get them back.

"They're all connected, the pouches, anything I put in one of them I can take out of another one, and if Teqi has one..." He trailed off, "I put some food in there and she must've gotten it. Holy crap."

"We can communicate with them now," Hazel grinned, and picked up one of the other folded papers covered in grime and crumbs and something red Leo would rather not think about. She unfolded it and then passed it to Piper, who took it cautiously. Hazel picked up the other one and elbowed Frank, who leant over her shoulder to read it.

"Piper," she started, and as her eyes moved across the page her smile widened. "We're alive. Found a Titan called Bob. Percy thinks hes..fry...freind...friendly. Headed to the doors of death right now but giants are flowing. IM Connor and tell him the note isn't a prank please he'll know what you mean. Don't tell..." Piper faltered, and Leo noticed the quick glance she sent his way, but she cleared her throat and kept reading.

"Are you guys okay? If anyone gets hurt," Piper chuckled, her eyelashes shiny with tears, "If anyone gets hurt I'll kill them. Love, Annabeth."

Hazel rubbed her eyes and screwed up the note she'd read silently, pushing it into the pocket of her denim overalls. "Percy said the same things, and he asked if we could send some water back so that they could stop drinking fire, whatever that means."

"Why would they be drinking..." Jason muttered with a frown, then his eyes widened, and he jumped up, "come on! we have to get supplies," he turned to Leo, "How much can you fit in your toolbelt?"

"It's infinite, man, you could fit Frank the elephant in there if you wanted to. I mean you'd probably have to-"

"Leo!"

Teqi was okay.

Leo grinned, and reluctantly he let the hope he'd been squashing down bubble up.

It felt good.