In the pavilion, Leo sits with his brothers at Hephaestus' table. He can see Piper talking with her Aphrodite sisters and Jason eating alone at Zeus' table, occasionally glancing at each other.
He decides it is better to concentrate on his own plate of food, although rather than eating, he is hovering over it a bit and only puts food in his mouth from time to time. It's not as if he doesn't want to eat because he has 'eating problems', but rather he's not hungry after his self-injury session.
A shiver runs down his spine when he feels a hand on his shoulder, and he turns to see Nyssa looking at him with concern.
"Leo, are you okay?" She asks him. Her eyebrows draw together tensely, indicating concern.
Leo nods, putting on his usual fake smile. It's that bright, mischievous smile that, over time, has become characteristic of him.
"I'm fine, Nyssa." He replies, running a hand through his curly hair. He tries to make it sound as natural but calm and cheerful as possible.
It's obvious that Nyssa doesn't believe it for a second, but she decides not to press the issue of Leo's well-being. He is thin, even thinner than usual, he has dark circles under his eyes, his hands are shaky and he hasn't been seen for 3 whole dam days.
Dinner passes normally, each cabin talking to each other (with the exception of the Zeus and Poseidon cabins) as they enjoy their meal. Chiron announces the week's itinerary, and the meal is concluded.
For a change, Leo decides to go talk to Jason and Piper, who are talking about god knows what. He walks over and puts an arm around each of them.
"Hello, Superman and Beauty Queen." He greets, trying to sound as 'Leo' as possible. "Is everything okay? What are ya guys talking about?"
Piper and Jason look at each other, uncomfortable for some reason, and turn to look at Leo.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Leo. It's private." Jason says, tugging lightly on the collar of his shirt.
This leaves an air of awkwardness in the air (A/N: I don't know how the translation looks, but I'm writing this in Spanish and I'm repeating the word air many times). It is obvious that, whatever Jason and Piper are talking about, it is none of his business.
Leo tries one more time. "Let's go? Pretty please? For your favorite bad boy?"
Now it's Piper who responds, shaking her head. "No, Leo. It's a private matter."
This saddens the Latin elf, but he decides to leave the couple alone. He is ready to return to bunker 9, but Nyssa's hand on his arm stops him.
"Leo, you were in there for three days." She says. "You need to get out and rest. It's obvious you're exhausted."
"I'm fine, Nyssa." Leo repeats. This time, it's a bit out of his anguished tone, and before his sister can respond, he bolts toward bunker 9.
He feels the need to cut. He's felt it for years; a mixture of punishment and longing, something he wants but knows is wrong. Something like drugs. But he doesn't feel the need. Or, at least, he didn't feel it.
He always avoided suicide, but today would be different. He had been avoiding it for the sake of the little ones, but today's events were the straw that broke the camel's back. That was the clearest proof that he was relevant to no one, and not even Nyssa cared enough to follow him.
So, returning to bunker 9, Leo uses a more powerful weapon. It's a dagger with more edge than the previous one, and this time he has no problem going straight for the wrists without mercy.
He starts to cut, but this time the feeling is deeper. He is crying and yelling things in Spanish, such as 'Yo hice todo el trabajo!' (I did all the work) and 'Quiero ver a mi mama!' (I want to see my mom).
It didn't take long for the loss of blood to turn his world to black, and he fell straight to the floor.
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A/N; This piece is short and probably a bit bad, I know. But I did it in an hour. I want to see if I can get this up today and something else up early this morning, since I'm going to the beach tomorrow and won't be able to update for like a week.
This is also another disclaimer (faster) that this story has strong influences in another fanfiction that I found in fanfiction.net called Learning to Live by NoThanksss. The only thing is that this one is not finished, but it is relatively recent (the last chapter to date was published in 2021) and it is also another gem.
