❝ We were both young , when I first saw you ❞
WHEN Jason's gone missing, and in the process of looking for him, his protector floods a school, gets sent to a school for delinquents, and ends up making enemies with a stupid mechanic. Oh yeah, and get...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
UGLY CYCLOPS LEO
Leo watched [Name] slowly walk towards the warehouse. His hand was outstretched, just barely managing to graze the end of her sleeve—she was still wearing his jacket. He wanted her to stay, wanted to beg her to not leave him alone. But he didn't. He didn't want to be selfish, he wasn't worth her time. She had people she cared for, people she wanted to protect. Leo wasn't one of them.
He was worried for her, yeah, he melted snow around where she laid to heal her, but that doesn't change the fact that she still hit her head. Her head was bleeding. She was pale.
He found it ironic, someone else he cared for dying in a warehouse, and he wasn't good enough to save them. It was a miracle she was even able to move right now, a miracle that she even survived. It was one he was grateful for. He furiously cleaned the disk.
He was so involved in his work that he wasn't sure how much time had passed since [Name] left until he heard the voice.
You're wrong, Leo, it said.
He fumbled his brush and dropped it into Festus' head. He stood, but he couldn't see who had spoken. Then he looked towards the ground. Snow and chemical sludge from the toilets, even the asphalt itself was shifting like it was turning to liquid. A ten-foot-wide area formed eyes, a nose, and a mouth—the giant face of a sleeping woman.
She didn't exactly speak. Her lips didn't move. But Leo could hear her voice in his head, as if the vibrations were coming through the ground, straight into his feet and resonating up his skeleton.
They need you desperately, she said. In some ways, you are the most important of the eight—like the control disk in the dragon's brain. Without you, the power of the others means nothing. They will never reach me, never stop me. And I will fully wake.
"You." Leo was shaking so badly he wasn't sure he'd spoken aloud. He hadn't heard that voice since he was eight, but it was her: the earthen woman from the machine shop. "You killed my mom."
The face shifted. The mouth formed a sleepy smile like it was having a pleasant dream. Ah, but Leo. I am your mother too—the First Mother. Do not oppose me. Walk away now, just like how the daughter of Neptune did to you, without any care. Let my son Porphyrion rise and become king, and I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth.
Leo grabbed the nearest thing he could find—a Porta-Potty seat—and threw it at the face. "Leave me alone!"
The toilet seat sank into the liquid earth. Snow and sludge rippled, and the face dissolved.
