Love Games (Leo Valdez/ PJO Fan Fiction)

Chapter 28 - Bullet From a Gun

"She'll watch over me in the tears in her eyes, couldn't dig my own grave any deeper...Now she's showing me mercy as much as she can. She's letting me live with my demon" Bullet From a Gun, The Script

Leo's POV

"You were right," I tell Nyssa dryly. 

She blinks blankly and sits up straight in her bunk. "I'm so sorry, Leo." Her voice is thick and heavy. Maybe she's reliving all of the pain she felt. 

"Whatever we had before is just gone," I say quietly. Everything I love about Faye seemed to vanish. She no longer has that same tenacity that I had always admired. She came from everything I despised,  the Aphrodite cabin where it's okay to break hearts. Maybe it's even an accomplishment there. Looking at Nyssa, I could see so much agony etched onto her face. She's scarred because of their carelessness. "You were right," I repeat.

Nyssa rises to her feet and walks over to the work bench that I've collapsed on. She carefully takes a seat next to me and just stays with me in silence. "I'm sorry this had to happen to you," Nyssa says in a thick voice. 

"Thanks." I hold back the tears from falling. "I'm sorry too."

--

Faye's POV

My siblings surround me in a circle, wearing broad smiles as they chant and congratulate me for winning the Love Games. 

I didn't mean to, but I broke Leo's heart as well as my own.

Drew holds an embroidered box in front of her, staring at me with a smug expression. "Congrats, Faye." Drew lifts the cover of the box. "As your first reward, you'll be receiving a gift from our mother." Aubrey removed the contents and rolled her eyes before passing it to Drew. 

My heart pounds against my chest as the gift comes into view. The light caught the gems lining the gentle curves of it, glinting in the sunlight. Being a child of Aphrodite, the gift has to be something that represents our power. What better way than a gorgeous tiara?

Drew carefully places the tiara on my head, making sure it stayed steadily in my hair. "This tiara has been passed down to thirty other winners of the Love Games. I expect you to take care of it," she says with a smug grin.

I force a smile onto my face as she backs away. Jaws seem to drop as they catch glimpses of the most beautiful tiara ever made. They make comments about how lucky I am to have this and how surprised they are that Aubrey didn't win.

A set of fingers close around my wrist dragging me away from the excitement. "I know it's a lie," a voice hisses from the shadows of the trees outside of our cabin.

I already recognize its source. "Aubrey,  I won. Just accept it."

Her red hair pops out, shining brilliantly in the sunlight. Aubrey barks, "No. It's impossible. Leo wouldn't sleep with me, why the Hades would he sleep with you?" 

"Because he knows that I'm better than the rest of you," I reply coolly as I cross my arms and unpry myself from her grip. "Now, if you excuse me, I have my celebration to get back to."

She pins me to the wall once again with surprising force. My slim body is even lifted off the ground a couple of inches as she tugs my shirt higher. "Don't bull shit me," she scoffs. "You are no better than the rest of us."

"How is that?" I snort, clearly bluffing. Her power is beginning to frighten me. There's more to her than I ever expected. 

Aubrey's face comes into the light. A cocky smirk adorns her face as she comes to know that she is at an advantage, that I'm the weaker being. Everything is in perfect order, even the freckles are uniform on her cheeks. "You may think you have won, but we're the real winners. We got you to sleep with Leo although you didn't want to. We got you to break his heart. We won."