Leo Valdez X Reader

Chapter 21 Leo

I wandered in a dark room, nothing in sight. 

Silver mist covered the uneven ground as I waded through it. Someone's voice rang out through my head. 

It was womanly, but neither was Gaia nor Hera.

"Get up, hero. Your friends still need you." 

Something hit me in the back, and I stumbled to my knees. The thing whipped past and into the darkness, streams of fog trailing in beautiful curls. 

Soft footsteps echoed around me in a slow circle.

"Get up, Leo."

The figure started to walk forward, and I leaned towards the ground.

"Leo," the person stood directly in front of me, their shoes covered in mist. My head felt too heavy to lift up. I tried to speak, but my voice wouldn't work. 

Then, I completely fell forward.

I opened my eyes and suddenly found myself on the floral room floor. Melog was shaking my side.

"Leo!"

She helped me to my feet. Across from us, (Y/n) and Liam helped Nico and Will get off the floor.

Festus was curled up Harley's body behind me.

I jolted up, but my legs creaked in protest.

"Harley!" I turned to the blue creature keeping me on my feet.

"No, he can't be.....I-is he-"

(Y/n) interrupted me.

"Leo! He's fine. He's just sleeping, don't worry; I checked." Her hand reluctantly met my shoulder, and she lowered her voice. 

I tried to laugh it off, but the experience had shaken me. The creature could have killed Harley, and it almost did.

I needed to try harder next time.

"Let's get out of here before the spaghetti-snake spawn returns."

"Let's regroup in the hallway as long as we're out of here." Everyone stepped carefully across the tiled floor and slipped out into the new hallway, holding fresh burning torches. The walls were made of wood, and the floor beneath our feet was dirt, like a train track.

"Will, can you do a quick group analysis, please?" 

The son of Apollo nodded at (Y/n), going into doctor mode. Of course, he started with his beloved boyfriend. I instead called for some bandages from my toolbelt and made my way to Melog.

"Hey, I have these for your arm. But, um, Can I talk to you?" She nodded, and we stood a little farther back from the group.

"How'd this happen?" She lifted her arm as I wrapped the clean gauze around the bloody gash.

"One of those vine thingies snuck up on me. I guess I need to work on my combat." She laughed. I smiled back and finished tying off the knot.

"So, um, What happened after I passed out?" I rubbed the back of my neck as I felt my face go red.

"So that's what this is about," she laughed, "After I followed (Y/n)'s instructions, the flowering plant recoiled. The gas was getting to me, too, and suddenly, it started to recede. Everyone started waking up." 

Her blue eyes focused on something past me, and she smiled.

"I'm going to help Liam with re-taping his neck; thanks, Leo." She lightly punched my shoulder, and I watched her walk away briskly. 

She walked by (Y/n), brushing her shoulder as they exchanged a few words, and then the brown-haired girl came up to me.

"You seem to be in one piece." She smiled, looking at me over. I just thought I should make sure everyone's okay."

My hand made its way to the back of my neck again.

"Thanks. What about you? Everything still where it's supposed to be?" She rolled her shoulder and leaned against the wall beside me, watching our group.

"More or less. Will had to patch up a few scraps from the dragging, but I'm good."

Something glinted in the firelight, and I caught sight of her ring again.

I needed to find a way to work it into the conversation.

"Hey, that's a nice ring. I'm trying to remember it from when you first showed up. Is it new?"

Nailed it.

"Leo, I have to tell you something," she whispered now. He gave me this ring when we were escaping Achelios's shrine before Liam climbed the ladder. It was way too big, but then I put it on, and it formed to fit my finger. Do you know what kind of metal it is?"

I thought for a second. No raw metal that I could think of shrunk when being used.

"Could you take it off so I can examine it?"

She gave me this knowing look.

"It doesn't come off." 

She pulled on it, and the ring stayed in place.

Okay, this was getting weird.

"That's not even the weirdest part," she went on, reading my mind, "You know when the cleaning harpies were coming at us, and I brought out my sword to stop them?" 

I nodded, thinking of one of the many times she would save my life.

"The thing is, I didn't have my sword on me. I just swung my ring hand in front of me, and it was in my hands. That's what I did today, and it just appeared."

That was why she had her sword during the fight, even though I hadn't seen her pack it.

Her eyes shifted uneasily around the group. Keeping everyone in her sights. She lowered her head a bit.

"When Liam gave me this. He told me they wanted me to have it. I have no idea who they are, but they sound powerful and potentially dangerous. "

I swallowed hard.

"I wanted to tell you because I can't lead this quest alone. You've been on two before, so I need your help."

I grinned.

"So I'm like your second in command?"

She rolled her eyes, but I saw hints of a smile.

"Shut up."

"Aye, aye, captain!" I saluted her, and she elbowed my side. Nico made his way through the group before either of us could react.

"(Y/n), we should keep going. Something tells me we don't want to stay here right now." 

Her gaze hardened, her smile fading, and I felt sad seeing it disappear. 

But Nico was right; we needed to keep moving. I found Harley curled up into the side of Festus.

"Hey bud, we're leaving soon, come on." My brother rubbed his eyes, staggering to his feet.

"Why are you so tired? I'm the one who spent all night trapped here," I joked, putting my hand on his shoulder. Usually, he would respond with a comment, but he only yawned, his eyes barely open.

"I was up all night looking for you,"

My heart melted. 

Everyone had already grabbed their stuff and were a few paces ahead of us, so I threw Harley into a piggyback and snatched up my bag, following our friends down the dark hallway. 

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