❝ 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...
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GOODBYE FESTUS
[NAME]
I put my hands on his shoulders, trying to push him back down. "You shouldn't get up yet. You might still be hurt—"
But he insisted and pushed himself to his feet. Then he saw the wreckage and I could see him fall apart. Festus must have dropped the big canary cages as he lost control because they'd rolled in different directions and landed on their sides, perfectly undamaged. Piper and Jason were making their way over to us with smiles on their faces at the sight of Leo standing perfectly fine.
Festus hadn't been so lucky.
The dragon had disintegrated. His limbs were scattered across the lawn. His tail hung on the fence. The main section of his body had plowed a trench twenty feet wide and fifty feet long across the ground before breaking apart in the crater it made. What remained of his hide was a charred, smoking pile of scraps. Only his neck and head were somewhat intact, resting across a row of frozen bushes like a pillow. I felt a pang of guilt as Leo ran over to him.
"No," Leo sobbed. He ran to the dragon's head, falling to his knees, and stroked its snout. The dragon's eyes flickered weakly. Oil leaked out of his ear.
"You can't go," Leo pleaded in a small voice. "You're the best thing I ever fixed."
The dragon's head whirred its gears, as if it were purring. Jason, Piper and I stood next to him, but Leo kept his eyes fixed on the dragon. I kneeled beside Leo and put a hand on his shoulder as he shook his head. "It's not fair..."
It wasn't fair. Leo had almost nothing else in his life. When Festus appeared, he was so happy, working all night long to fix him as best he could. He had so many plans to help the dragon improve and become even better. It must have really hurt Leo to see that that wasn't possible anymore.
The dragon clicked. Long creak. Two short clicks. Creak. Creak. Almost like a pattern... The morse code clicked in my head, REUSE ME.
"Yeah," sniffled Leo sadly. "I understand. I will. I promise."
My eyes softened as I looked at Leo's trembling form, hesitantly placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. I turned my gaze towards Festus. "When you're all fixed up, I'll bring you all the Tabasco sauce and motor oil you want, okay?"
The dragon clicked again, a thank you. Leo sobbed, "Thanks, man. For everything."
Festus' eyes went dark. He was gone.
Festus was a huge part of our quest. I knew how hard it was to do a quest without a ride but Festus was always there like a giant limo in shining, bronze armor. It made me regret my previous reservations about flying on him.
I looked away awkwardly, not knowing what to do when Leo was crying so hard. He loved Festus a lot. It was heartbreaking to see him so heartbroken. Hesitantly, I hugged Leo. I didn't know how he would respond—whether or not he would turn away and hide his tears—or if this was even the right thing to do in this situation, but he hugged me back tight and cried on my shoulder.
Jason patted his back silently and Piper managed as many comforting words as she could. That was all we could do for him at that moment: be his friend when the greatest friend in his life had just passed.
Finally Jason said, "I'm so sorry, man. What did you promise Festus?"
Leo sniffled, letting go of me. He opened the dragon's head panel, just to be sure, but the control disk was cracked and burned beyond repair.
"Something my dad told me," Leo said. "Everything can be reused."
"Your dad talked to you?" Jason asked. "When was this?"
Leo didn't answer. He worked at the dragon's neck hinges until the head was detached. It weighed about a hundred pounds, but Leo managed to hold it in his arms. He looked up at the starry sky and said, "Take him back to the bunker, Dad. Please, until I can reuse him. I've never asked you for anything."
The wind picked up, and the dragon's head floated out of Leo's arms like it weighed nothing. It flew into the sky and disappeared.
I couldn't believe it. Hephaestus had just listened to his son. It was rare for the Gods to ever listen, especially to their children, so for him to do that...
Piper looked at him in amazement. "He answered you?"
"I had a dream," Leo managed. "Tell you later."
I looked around. The large white mansion glowed in the center of the grounds. Tall brick walls with lights and security cameras surrounded the perimeter.
"Where are we?" Leo asked. "I mean, what city?"
"Omaha, Nebraska," Piper said. "I saw a billboard as we flew in. But I don't know what this mansion is. We came in right behind you, but as you were landing, Leo, I swear it looked like—I don't know—"
"Lasers," Leo said. He picked up a piece of dragon wreckage and threw it toward the top of the fence.
Immediately a turret popped up from the brick wall and a beam of pure heat incinerated the bronze plating to ashes.
Jason whistled. "Some defense system. How are we even alive?"
"Festus," Leo said miserably. "He took the fire. The lasers sliced him to bits as he came in so they didn't focus on you. I led him into a death trap."
"You didn't know," I said firmly. "He saved our lives again, yours in particular."
"But what now?" Jason said. "The main gates are locked, and I'm guessing I can't fly us out of here without getting shot down."
Leo looked up the walkway at the big white mansion.
"Since we can't go out, we'll have to go in."
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motivation is literally the lowest ever and normally i would shoot out such a long chapter for my absence but ive been so busy lately and i cannot bring myself to write this story in particular i have no clue why
how would [Name] be characterized in fanon btw im really curious
