madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-but my head was underwater-

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Teqi felt like she'd been hit by a chariot. Her head pounded. Everything was blurry and hard to focus on.

Those fucking bruises weren't going anywhere anytime soon. Movement caught her eye, and she crawled over to her friend, looping her hands through the metal grids of the scaffolding they'd landed on. Vines dangled from the roof, the net she'd grown had broken their fall but now it was in tatters.

Piper's head was tipped back in pain, a sweaty sheen covering her brown skin.

The flooring underneath Teqi shook. Something was coming. Her brain was foggy, she couldn't remember where she put her knives and oh now her mouth tasted like vomit that wasn't good. But she had to protect-

A shadow fell over her, and she feared the worst.

Lucky Teqi, it was the best. Leo knelt down beside her, mouthing something she couldn't place. She squinted at him.

What an idiot. She couldn't lip read. Sure, she could mind-read, but she had no idea what he was trying to tell her. Wow, she felt dizzy. The boy in front of her started to panic, which only made her panic.

Wait.

Teqi's scrambled brain finally put the dots together and realised Leo was talking normally.

She just couldn't hear him. Not great. She was sitting up properly now, head between her legs, trying to breath. She looked up, wiping sweat from her brow. Jason was hovering over Piper, who-

Teqi turned and vomited.

Holy Hades, her foot. Feet weren't supposed to bend that way.

She was pulled back from the edge of the metal catwalk and then vaguely realised despite the cold shivers running through her she was still responsible. Jason was trying to get Piper to drink water, but she didn't need water, she needed nectar instead.

Teqi patted her pockets down. None. She reached for a discarded backpack and pushed some wrapped up ambrosia towards them, breathing through her mouth to push down the sick feeling.

She turned back to a very distressed Leo. Why was he panicking?

Right. Her ears. She reached up to touch them, and then flinched at the pain. Leo grabbed her wrists and pulled them down, stopping her from causing herself more pain. Dick.

His hair was cute as, though. It wasn't oily anymore; it was fluffy and soft looking after the ice castles stinging showers. She reached clumsily out to touch it and recoiled out the sight of her hands instead.

Blood.

There was blood on her hands.

Was it her blood? It was everyone's blood.

Tony's blood was all over her hands. It was dripping down her wrists. She scrambled back. Her eyes welled. It was all her fault. Castor's blood was on her hands, hot and wet. That rabbit she killed trying out archery when she was seven's blood was on her hands.

Her brother's blood was everywhere.

Her thoughts were cut off as Leo shoved something sticky into her mouth.

There were golden crumbs on his fingers. Ambrosia. It tasted like the cheap packet chocolate pudding they'd stolen from the wilderness cafeteria together. It got rid of the burning in her throat and the gross taste left behind.

Cold water splashed over her hands. Jason was washing them off with a water bottle. What an idiot, that was the last of their water. She pushed it back towards him. They needed to save it.

Piper shuffled over. There was duct tape and wood wrapped around her ankle, and a big jacket over her shoulders. Teqi gave her the rest of the ambrosia from Leo's hand. It was squashed and probably warm now. Piper ate it anyway.

They were talking. Jason shrugged cluelessly. That was normal.

Leo reached out to her ears and Teqi backed up, hitting the rails. Why did he want to hurt her? He pulled his army jacket sleeve over his hand and showed her three fingers. Then two, and then one, and then he wiped the blood off her gently.

She nodded at him, even though it was over, and decided not to touch them again. They were still ringing. It was like being underwater.

Everyone was talking again, but Teqi just lent back against the metal sticking into her shoulder blades and reminded herself to breath.

She swallowed down the sick feeling again, and started to plait Piper's hair back out of her face. It was all sweaty and stuck to her face, probably feeling awful and grotty.

Leo stood, looking towards the rest of the junk filled warehouse they'd landed in and the metal door at the end. He shrugged at the others, still talking. Teqi felt very left out. She had no idea what was going on.

He pointed at her and said something else, frowning. Jason patted her on the shoulder and smiled. Leo grabbed a torch from his belt and stormed off.

Was he mad at her? Was it because she couldn't hear him?

She wanted to follow him and explain it wasn't on purpose, but he was gone already.

Jason and Piper kept talking. Teqi didn't know what to do. They sat around for a few minutes not doing much, until vibrations rattled the catwalk they were on. Teqi assumed there had been a noise along with it.

Jason stood up, and glanced down into the darkness.

Fucking idiot was going to go investigate, wasn't he?

Brilliant idea, go leave the injured people to fend for themselves. Piper didn't seem to agree with her intelligent train of though, she gripped her dagger and nodded to the boy. Great. They were all going to die.

She wouldn't even get to say bye-bye to Leo.

Something else made the catwalk shudder. Violently. Piper tried to stand, but failed, falling against the railing and lifting her injured ankle up with a wince.

Teqi managed to get up, and even more surprisingly, stay up. Glancing back at the incapacitated girl, she shrugged.

Piper motioned to the boxes and broken tractors behind them, like she wanted her to hide. Teqi didn't want to, but the element of surprise would help much more than the element of another injured girl.

She grabbed one of the spare wooden stakes off the ground and wandered back into the shadows, ready to leap onto the back of whatever monster emerged and slit its throat if need be.

Then she saw their monster.

They were going to need a lot more than the element of surprise and a big stick.

The massive cyclops dragged away a struggling Piper, singular eye squinted as it smiled at her distress.

It took all of Teqi's will not to leap after them and fight, but she knew how this worked. She needed to find Jason, if he wasn't already caught in the clutches of the cyclopes' makeshift kitchen. They tended to do that.

Leo wouldn't be caught. He had fire powers now. Well, he'd always had them, she supposed, but now she knew.

She crept on top of the rusty tractor and peered through the darkness. There seemed to be a fire crackling on the other end of the warehouse. They probably would have seen it sooner, but it was getting lighter outside, and it was harder to spot.

She needed to see what was happening. She needed to help. Teqi climbed up the tower of machinery, feeling her centre of gravity spin as her ears popped like she was getting off a high flying Pegasus.

She grabbed onto the lowest beam, launched herself into the rafters of the warehouse, and landed softly.

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