Anti-Hero || Leo Valdez

42 - We Cry and Leo Makes Chilaquiles

Via woke up to discover that Leo had broken their deal and let go of her hand in order to make breakfast. It smelled amazing, but she still felt exhausted and just wanted to cuddle up to him for warmth and sleep. Via yawned. She'd have to do that in the car.

She trudged over to him, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Morning."

"Afternoon, you mean. It's almost two."

"Shit, I've been asleep that long?"

"Yeah. Pat woke up and we were gonna wake you up so we could keep going, but then he fell asleep again and I figured we'd leave as soon as both of you were up."

"Mmm." Via knelt down, resting her chin on his shoulders. "Whatcha makin'?"

"Chilaquiles. Fried corn tortillas. I added some egg and chorizo in there."

"Smells delicious. You should start a restaurant, make bank."

"It's funny," Leo mused. "Jason said something like that when we were on our first quest."

Via's heart sank. He hadn't spent the entire morning and early afternoon thinking about Jason all on his own, had he? Via should've stayed up with him.

As if reading her mind, Leo added, "Pat and I talked about him for a bit before he fell asleep again. He showed me a vision about how it happened."

"Oh."

"You know, before we came to the Waystation, Percy said something about how being a Hero made him lonely. He lost friends during the Titan War and grew apart from his other friends during the Giant War."

"Yeah, I know how that feels," Via said. The Titan War had taken a lot out of her. The Apollo had almost been wiped out, not to mention she lost friends from other cabins, like Silena and Castor. And when she left, she grew apart from the friends that survived.

"What do you mean?"

"You know how I told you a while ago how I lost a lot of friends in the Titan war and that's why we left?"

"Right."

"You don't know how bad it was. Castor dying on me wasn't even the worst of it. Before the Titan War, the Apollo cabin was one of the biggest cabins. We went to Manhattan with almost thirty campers. We came back with five."

"Five?"

"Me, Pat, Will, Kayla, and Austin. We were the only ones left."

"Wow... I never knew that. I mean, Will mentioned that Apollo had gone through a couple of head counselors during the war, but I didn't realize it was that bad."

"Yeah. Some of them were wiped out when the Williamsburg Bridge collapsed, and I took over since Michael Yew died and I was next in seniority. Then I had the archers hold the front line. It wasn't the smartest move — archers are definitely not melee fighters — but I didn't know that at the time. I was a healer, not a fighter. Also, we were so outnumbered, so it was the best we could do."

"Pat said you almost died," Leo remembered. "So you survived..." He trailed off as Via shook her head.

"Kayla, Pat, and Austin were the only surviving archers. Will and I were the healers. What happened was... okay, it's kind of a lot to explain." Via took a deep breath. "So, before the Titan War, I didn't have my Sun Wrath. I didn't get that blessing until a few months after the Battle of Manhattan. I had almost unlimited healing power, but it came with a catch. Whatever I healed would be inflicted on me, and it would heal faster on me. So if I healed someone's broken leg, I'd get a broken leg, but it would heal in a week as opposed to a couple months."