madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-incest but its okay cause they're gay-

yall it's happening tmrw it's HAPPENING WE'RE GETTING THE SHOW it's gonna kill me

<3

Jason shivered when he thought about Khione's attack. He'd been rendered helpless—frozen solid not once but twice.

That wasn't a problem now though, as he leaned against the balcony rail. The air was so hot and dry, it sucked the moisture right out of his lungs. Over the last week, his skin had gotten darker, only a little, but his scars had somehow tanned, the torn-up skin along his arms and face standing out. His hair had turned as white as corn silk where the ends just brushed his shoulders. Whenever he glanced in the mirror, he was startled by the wild, empty look in his eyes. It reminded him a bit of Teqi.

That only made him feel worse.

A hundred feet below, the bay glittered against a crescent of red sand beach. They were somewhere on the northern coast of Africa. That's as much as the wind spirits would tell him, when they spiralled around him yelling cruel encouragements and poking fun at the fact none of them knew what they were doing.

Down at the dock, Jason's friends were working on the Argo II. The main sail had been repaired, Jason and Hazel had stitched up a lot of it with shoelaces, but that was beside the point. The rigging was replaced. Now they were mending the oars.

Frank stood at the helm in his pyjama pants, tinkering with the controls as Hazel sipped a glass of powdered lemonade, her hair tied back with a sunflower patterned bandana, flipping through the scrapbook of instructions on fixing and looking after the Argo II that Leo had stashed under the control panel.

Coach Hedge was hanging over the side of the ship, banging out dents in the oars. Hedge was well suited for banging on things. It helped with his anger.

They didn't seem to be making much progress, but considering what they'd been through, it was a miracle the ship was in one piece. Leo saved the entire crew from becoming ice sculptures in Quebec for Khione to decorate her room with. He'd also managed to direct the explosion of the icy sphere, so even though the ship had been pushed halfway across the Mediterranean, it had sustained relatively minor damage.

Jason would never tell him, neither would anyone else on the deck eating a makeshift lunch and fiddling with parts, but after Leo had saved their asses... he'd become useless.

It wasn't his fault, not really, it was just... they just really needed his help. Jason understood, though. Not the pain, he couldn't begin to imagine the pain his friend was in, but he understood Leo couldn't brush it off any longer and get to work.

He'd lost Teqi and now Piper to places they might never come back from.

Jason just wished he could help, but there was nothing he could do apart from put breakfast lunch and dinner outside the engine room and talk to him from the other side of the locked celestial bronze door. He hadn't seen Leo in three days, the only reason any of them knew he was still alive was the smoke that would waft into the hallway every few hours.

That and the fact Festus was groaning and moaning like he was grieving. Even Buford limped around and butted against the door every morning, clicking sadly. Jason didn't even realise the sounds of gears could break someone's heart, but they did.

Down at the dock, Hedge yelled, "Try it now!"

Hazel and Frank pulled some of the levers. The port oars went crazy, chopping up and down and doing the wave. Coach Hedge tried to dodge, but one smacked him in the rear and launched him into the air. He came down screaming and splashed into the bay, a plate of carrot sticks and hummus being launched towards the main sail.