𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

꧁𝐋𝐄𝐎 𝐜𝐡𝟒𝟑꧂

Leo

I'd never been good with a sword, but I understood the concept of holding one to a God's throat.

"Leave." I hissed.
The God laughed, "Did the scared little boy grow up?"
"I said leave," I repeated. I was aware of a furious Piper behind me, being comforted by a boyfriend she didn't want to talk to, with Hazel and Frank watching me anxiously threaten the god.

"And what are you going to do about it, huh?"
I pressed the sword to his neck.
"You wouldn't."
"Are you sure about that?"
"You are scared of many, many things, Valdez."
"Mhm. Do you have a point? Or can you, like, go get your daily Starbucks or something?"
"And this may not be your biggest fear, but it's what I find most interesting."
"What is?" In truth, I wanted to know. I really, really did. But I also didn't want it to be something embarrassing, like Mickey Mouse, or something really deep like-
"Why did your mother die?"

The question caught me off guard, and just for a split second, his form flickered to that of my mom, just how I remembered her. Jason's sword instantly clattered to the ground and the sound of gold on the deck echoed in my ears for eternity.

"Wh-what?" I said quietly.
"Go on. Tell me." he whispered, leaning forwards.
"She- she died in a fire." I just responded on instinct. Looking back now, I wonder why I gave in to his taunting, why I let him get to me.
"That was caused by? Who caused the fire, Leo?" he said, right in my ear.
"Me." I said in a small voice.

Phobos laughed. "You're scared of yourself, Leo. You're scared of your own power." he whispered.

And then he vanished.

___________

"Leo? What was that about? I didn't hear-" Frank asked.
"Don't worry." I cut him off and Hazel shot me a look. Drop it, was the message my face sent back and she grimaced.

"Fine! But we aren't going to sort this out if you don't talk to me!" Jason said, throwing his hands up in exasperation at Piper, who stood with her arms folded, refusing to look at him. Now normally I take up the job of being a third wheel, but now they were fighting because of some stupid comment from a wannabe David Bowie.

"Well your bro's a jerk," I began.
"No kidding," Piper spat.
"But, I think that you guys' relationship is real, you clearly care for each other."
"Leo's right-" Hazel agreed.
"-for once-" Frank chipped in.
"You guys clearly care for each other." Hazel smiled warmly.

Piper took a deep breath. "Jason, I care about you, but I'm just having doubts. I mean, our relationship was built on fake memories."
Jason sighed. "That's true... but- whatever. We can't worry about this now. I mean, Percy and Annabeth are going through literal hell, we need to get our act together here. I need to iris message Thalia, she wants updates. We can sort this out later... we have all the time in the world after this war."

If there still is a world, was the unspoken truth.

___________

After Jason and I sent our iris messages to our sisters and girlfriends respectively, we gathered in the dining room. Every one was sitting there. It was so empty without Percy and Annabeth. And... Hazel?

Hazel wasn't there yet. We sat there in silence. The table fit eight people normally. The head of the table (Percy's usual seat) and the chair next to it (Annabeths usual seat) were empty. The other head of the table (Nico's seat) was empty. Next to Annabeths empty seat was Frank, who was stirring a coffee absentmindedly. Opposite me (Hazels seat next to Franks) was also empty, making the entire side of that table a void, with an awkward Frank in the middle. And of course next to me was Jason, who was tapping his knuckles on the table rapidly, trying to block out Piper beside him, who was trying to fix a broken eyelash curler - that may have been my fault.