Anti-Hero || Leo Valdez

50 - She Protecc, She Attacc, But Most Importantly, She is a Snacc

As they headed further and further away from Pat, it was becoming more and more obvious to Leo that Via was trying her hardest not to cry. She kept blinking profusely and breathing heavily, and at one point Via had to stop and mutter to herself, "It's fine you're fine it's fine you're fine" over and over again.

He took her hand, not sure that anything he could possibly say would make her feel better. What could he possibly say? "Hey, it's okay, you only sent your brother off to wander behind an arrow that's probably leading him to certain death!"

Yeah, no.

But he still wanted her to know that he was there for her. He almost didn't even notice her squeezing the life out of his fingers.

To be honest, though, he wasn't in any hurry to let go of her hand. He didn't want to risk turning around for a single second and letting any monster that may have been hiding in the shadows have even a chance of capturing Via. He was growing more and more worried by the minute as well. They'd been in this fortress for almost thirty minutes, and so far they'd only come across one dracaena. This seemed very tricky. Lamia had to be toying with them. She was probably just waiting for them to wander into her... web? Den? Tree of forbidden fruit? What kind of traps did snakes have?

Regardless, he was on high alert and way more tense than he'd ever felt in his life. One mistake, one slip-up, and who knows what could be coming out of the shadows to grab Via? And if anything happened to her...

Damn. Now he understood how Pat felt.

"How much further do you think?" He asked after ten more minutes of following Via's arrow.

"Um," Via's voice wobbled a bit, but she cleared her throat and said, "Hopefully not much. At this point, I'd rather just face her."

"Hey, don't jinx it," Leo warned half-jokingly.

Via gave him a stiff smile. It was definitely a bad sign that two goofy people had nothing goofy to say.

Okay, he needed to pivot.

"So... what do you think you're going to do when we save your mom?" He asked. "I mean, I know we already talked about us, and I'm still totally on board with the whole long-distance thing. But what are you gonna do?"

"Sleep," Via said, letting out a breathy laugh. "And then... I dunno. Go back to school again. I haven't talked to a lot of my Texas friends in a couple years, so I'll probably have to start from scratch. Maybe I should get a few hobbies. Pat and I both like to join any theater clubs we can, but I want to do more, you know?"

"Ooh, I got one for you."

"Huh?"

"Roller-skating. Like roller derby kind of roller skating."

Via raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Oh, yeah, Blondie. You're badass and tough as hell, and you're good at everything you try. You'd be perfect for it."

"Well, I guess it definitely wouldn't hurt to look into i—"

Leo couldn't resist a cheap shot. "Plus, you're probably too short for basketball."

"I will chop off your hand and shove your fist so far down your throat you'll have to shit it out."

Leo shrugged. "Hot."

Via snorted and briefly let go of his hand to jab him in the ribs. Leo was quick to reach out again. They walked a bit longer, then Leo said, "I think when I get back to Indy, I'm going to try to go back to school, too. At least I'll know some people there. Does the school there have, like... a robotics club or something?"