REMEMBER ME ---- BOOK I / Heroes of Olympus / Leo Valdez Fanfiction

hades really wants me in his palace... or his fields. Who knows.

TIME SEEMED TO SLOW DOWN, WHICH WAS really frustrating, since Penelope couldn't move at all. She felt herself sinking into the earth like the ground was a waterbed—comfortable, urging her to relax and give up on whatever she'd gotten.  She wondered if the stories of the Underworld were true. Would she end up in the Fields of Punishment or Elysium? If she couldn't remember any of her do's, would they still count? She wondered how it would look on the journey to the Underworld. She thought it would be beautiful. She wouldn't have to take the weight of the rise of Gaea and getting Jason back to their own camp anymore. 

She wanted a beautiful shroud, mind you. She wanted to die wearing something good, so her ghost would look pretty. 

She couldn't feel her limbs. She could see a glowing pointy-thingy coming towards her chest in slow motion. She knew she should move, but she just, couldn't.

Funny, she thought. All that effort to stay alive, and then, boom. You just lie there helplessly with a friend while a fire-breathing giant impales you both.

Leo's voice yelled, "HEADS UP DICKHEAD!". Suddenly, she saw a large black metal wedge slammed into Enceladus with a massive thunk! The giant toppled over and slid into the pit.

"Jason, Penelope! Get up!" Piper called. Her voice energized her, shook her out of her stupid journey to death. She sat up, her head groggy, while Leo grabbed her under his arms and hauled her to her feet. She felt a wave of darkness wash over her eyes as she almost lost balance and fell on Leo's chest. He held her face calling her out. She tried to look at him, but her eyes fogged out and she saw his silhouette instead. He still looked good that way. 

Leo spoke to her loud and cleat. "You are not dying on me mi vida."

It had been a while since he called her that, whatever it meant. It felt comforting. 

"Yes sir." She felt light-headed, but he was about the most handsome person she'd ever seen. His hair was smoldering. His face was smudged with soot. He had all kinds of scratches on his face, his shirt was torn, and he was missing a suspender. Hot.

She managed to curse everything in her brain, that made Leo smile a little.

Yeah, she thought. She could put death away for a while.

Then she looked down in the crater and saw where the other end of the hydraulic ax had gone. Enceladus was struggling to rise, an ax blade the size of a washing machine stuck in his breastplate.

Amazingly, the giant managed to pull the ax blade free. He yelled in pain and the mountain trembled. Golden ichor soaked the front of his armor, but Enceladus stood.

Shakily, he bent down and retrieved his spear.

"Good try." The giant winced. "But I cannot be beaten."

As they watched, the giant's armor mended itself, and the ichor stopped flowing. Even the cuts on his dragon-scale legs, which Penelope had risked her existence to make, were now just pale scars.

Leo ran up to them, saw the giant, and cursed. "What is it with this guy? Die, already!"

"My fate is preordained," Enceladus said. "Giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes."

"Only by both," Jason said. The giant's smile faltered, and she saw in his eyes something like fear. Then it clicked.

She spoke. "It's true, isn't it? Gods and demigods have to work together to kill you."

"You will not live long enough to try!" The giant started stumbling up the crater's slope, slipping on the glassy sides.

"Anyone have a god handy?" Leo asked.