Arsonist's Lullabye ──── Leo Valdez

𝟏𝟔: 𝐈𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐬

─────After thinking about his memories with his dad, talking about Icarus, falling through the open air was the last thing Vincent needed. 

Far below he saw city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and several hundred yards away the body of the bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired lightbulb.

Above him, Vincent could see Piper and Jason also flailing around. But all he cared about was—

Leo Leo Leo Leo Leo Leo Leo Leo, where is Leo?

Something slammed into Vincent so hard that it knocked the breath out of him. But when He managed to see who it was, Vincent couldn't help the relief that ebbed into him. 

Leo clawed into his skin, trying to hold on as the two of them still tumbled through the sky. Vincent couldn't help but think back to Icarus. Fuck, he had even met Daedalus, though he didn't know it was Daedalus at the time. Vincent wondered what it must be like to be a person from the myths so many people talk about.

He was still half disoriented from his dream, so it took him a bit longer to try and focus on what was going on.

Vincent knew basics about gliding through the air, so he spread out his arms, even though Leo was clinging onto him like a koala. They dropped like stones. The city below them rapidly increased in size and the cold slapped Vincent in the face, making him shiver as he approached his untimely demise. 

"You're strangling me!" Vincent tried to choke out. Unfortunately, the wind carried his words away and Leo continued to cling onto him. 

Adrenaline coursed through Vincent and he finally understood why his dad used to love dangerous sports (with the proper equipment of course, unlike them who were hurtling toward the ground). 

THUMP!

Something— or rather two certain someones, slammed into Vincent and again he had the breath knocked out of his lungs. 

He felts arms around him, Piper or Jason, he couldn't tell. The four of them held on to each other like a weird sort of ritualistic circle. 

"My dragon!" Leo yelled. "You gotta save Festus!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth, Vincent heard an explosion below them. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"

For some reason, Vincent realized they had slowed down. He looked at Jason in wonder, the blond's face reddening with strain. Leo had said Jason could fly, but Vince thought he was joking. It was evident by now that Leo had been actually serious for once. 

Jason struggled to keep the four of them aloft. Intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like they were bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time, which wasn't doing Vincent's stomach any favors.

As they wobbled and zigzagged, Vincent could make out details of the factory complex below—warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten them into roadkill—or skykill—when Jason groaned, "I can't—"

And they dropped like stones.

They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness.

For a few seconds, everything went dark. 

Vincent was pretty sure he passed out or at least lost consciousness.