madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-homo-erotic shots-

Lucky for Leo, he was used to scorching heat, so he wasn't sweating buckets like his friends, but he still had to squint his eyes against the bright sun that sat above the ruins.

The few tourists wandering around had the right idea, ice creams in hand, but the only accessories the demigods had was the staff of death in Nico's hand and an assortment of weapons. Alongside the pit of fear in Leo's gut, and his purple cape of fire blanket material.

He was wearing the baggy cargo pants Piper had brought back for him of course, the same calico material as the bag swinging by Frank's waist, with his twig of life in it. Leo had kept his fire blanket though. He didn't trust himself enough to not recreate Pompeii if... if something happened. Everything would be fine though. It had to be.

Nico led the way as Leo tried to pull himself out of his dreadful thoughts. At the top of the hill, they climbed over an old retaining wall and down into an excavated trench, swords swinging in their hilts. Jason winced as he jumped down, and then rolled his eyes when he had to catch Piper, who stuck her tongue out.

Leo felt his chest loosen at the sight of his friends, and he smiled a little bit.

Finally, they arrived at a stone doorway leading straight into the side of the hill. The death storm of black lightning and swirling tentacles of darkness seemed to pool right above them, and the grassy island filled with boulders and patches of weedy flowers they were on.

Nico faced the group. "From here, it gets tough."

"Right, yeah," Piper grumbled, fiddling with her plaits. 'I was holding back."

Nico glared. "Remember, this is where pilgrims came to commune with dead ancestors. Underground, you may see things that are hard to look at, or hear voices trying to lead you astray in the tunnels. Frank, do you have the barley cakes?"

"What?" Frank asked, looking away from a line of ants.

Jason grinned, his scarred lip twisting, and he squinted against the sun. Leo noticed his arms were still rubbed raw and peeling after the speed of reigning in the wind spirits that got them to Piper. "Someone brought cake?"

Nico looked like he was contemplating going alone at this point, and Leo restrained from adding to the chaos of disarray and incompetence. It physically hurt not to comment, but he managed it. Then he grinned. He was still Leo, after all. His gravelly voice didn't sound like his own when he spoke. "I've got some-"

"You have the flattest ass on earth," Piper hissed in his ear, and he slumped.

"I've got the cakes," Hazel said, giving Nico a weak smile. She pulled out the magical barley crackers they'd made from the grain Triptolemus had given them in Venice. They were grey and crumbling.

"Eat up," Nico sighed.

Leo chewed his cracker of death and tried not to gag. It reminded him of a cookie made with sawdust instead of sugar. And he'd eaten a lot of accidental sawdust sandwiches in his time. A chunk got stuck in his tooth and he began digging it out while Jason thumped his chest, nose wrinkled.

"Yum," Piper said, looking mildly ill. "Did anyone bring Nutella? Or maybe Jam?"

"Okay. That should protect us from the poison." Nico ignored the incredibly confused, scared, and concerned glances pointedly. "Just stick close together, and maybe we can avoid getting lost or going insane."

On that happy note, Nico led them underground.

The tunnel spiralled gently downward; the ceiling supported by white stone arches that reminded Leo of a whale's rib cage. As they walked, Hazel ran her hands along the masonry. "This wasn't part of a temple," she muttered. "This was...the basement for a manor house, built in later Greek times."