Fire and Ice (A Leo Valdez fanfic) [2017]

Chapter 14: Piper ❤

"LEO, THINK THIS THROUGH," Piper pleaded. "How do you know that she isn't being controlled by Khione? Remember when you blew up Camp Jupiter--"

"Another time I messed up," Leo muttered. "Thanks for reminding me."

"It wasn't you, it was an eidolon! What if it's a trick of Khione's?" Piper said desperately. She didn't trust the daughter of Khione one bit, and she hated to think that Leo wanted to go off on his own.

"I wouldn't be surprised, but I have to go after her!" Leo said.

"Can I at least come with you?" Piper asked worriedly. "I don't want you going alone."

"I won't be alone," Leo assured her. "I'll take Festus."

Piper was not comforted by that statement. A metal dragon didn't count as a person, but she knew Leo wouldn't agree with that. Instead she said, "Khione made Festus's wires freeze during our first quest. It's dangerous to take him. What will you do if you get hurt?"

"We'll be fine."

"Can I come with you? Or Jason, or Percy or somebody? Please?"

"Piper, you don't understand. She won't trust you. She needs to trust me again, and it'll work better when I'm alone."

Piper agreed reluctantly. "Fine. But can I help you pack?"

"Gods, you're so overprotective," Leo said, breaking into a faint grin. For a moment, a shadow of his old self was visible behind the anger, the pain. Then it was gone.

They struggled across the common back to the Hephaestus cabin. Piper packed Leo's warmest clothes, a canteen of nectar, a bag of ambrosia squares, a pouch of drachma and a spray bottle for Iris messaging, a change of clothes for when the ice magic stopped, mortal money, food, water and other rations into a backpack. Then she waited in the main room of the Hephaestus cabin while Leo changed into warmer clothes in his private room. Nyssa wasn't happy to hear that he was going away again. She said something to him in Spanish, then hugged him.

"Are you going to tell Chiron?" Piper asked.

Leo shook his head. "He wouldn't let me. I'll tell Jason, then I'll leave."

-

"You what?" Jason yelped. "You can't go after her! What if--"

"Jason, I'm not leaving her out there. She could be starving or being hunted by monsters. Or even worse, she could be taken over by Khione."

"Exactly why you shouldn't go!" Jason insisted. "At least take one of us with--"

"No!" Leo snapped. "I'm going alone. I'll take Festus and fly over the woods so I can see her through the trees. I'll Iris-message you every once in a while. I'll be fine. I survived the way back to camp from Cal-- from Ogygia." He grimaced.

"Iris-message us at least once a day!" Jason demanded. He then gave Leo a fierce hug. "Don't die, fire boy."

Piper blinked back tears as she wrapped her arms around Leo. He had grown in the month he'd been missing-- he was finally taller than her, if only by an inch or two. She cared about him so much, even if he was annoying sometimes. She couldn't bear to think of him not coming back. She gave him a sisterly kiss on the cheek. "Leo, just stay safe, please. I don't--" Her voice broke. "I don't want to lose you again."

"I'll be fine," Leo said confidently, patting Piper on the back. "No need to worry, Pipes."

Piper burst into tears and sobbed into his shoulder. She didn't understand why she was acting like this, but she was terrified to think of her best friend going on a quest alone, with no prophecy, to fight Piper's own worst enemy and rescue a possibly corrupted demigod daughter of Piper's worst enemy. They had defeated her twice before, and it was said that the third time was a charm, but Khione was smart and knew Leo's weaknesses. She could easily trick him using Eira as bait.

Leo pulled Jason into the hug. "I promise I'll come back alive," he said. "I won't let you down."

"Try not to, you know, get your butt frozen off," Jason advised. "Or any part of you, actually."

"Thanks, Sparky. Never thought of that," Leo said, rolling his eyes. "I'll be okay. I'd better go see if Festus is okay in this weather. I'll see you... sometime soon. I love you guys."

He left the Zeus cabin, leaving Piper to realize with a jolt that those were the last words he had said before he'd dropped them from Festus and killed Gaea, killing himself in the process. Would this quest get him killed again? Piper didn't want to think about it.

They stayed in the Zeus cabin for shelter. The wind howled outside the cabin, reminding Piper of her conflicting emotions. She didn't want Leo to go on a quest alone-- Annabeth had done it once before, and look how that ended. Plus, how far had Eira gone? She could be out of the woods by now. On the other hand, if Leo didn't go, Camp Half Blood would stay frozen for who knows how long. On the other other hand... Leo might have to fight Khione, the evil goddess of snow, and Eira might be on her side. And if Leo couldn't melt the ice, she didn't know what he could do against them. Festus had also sent Jason, Leo and her plummeting to the ground from a hundred feet up because the wires in his brain were frozen over by Khione. There were so many dangers on this quest, but it was up to Leo to save the camp. And Eira, of course.

"I really don't like this," Jason said, breaking the ice (see what I did there?).

"Not one bit," Piper agreed. She wished it weren't Leo who had to go on this quest only a day after he'd returned to camp. Why couldn't it have been her?

You made Eira feel unwelcome, a part of her brain pointed out. You were on her capture the flag team-- it should have been you who supported her, not Leo.

But it made perfect sense not to trust someone who looks like your worst enemy. Didn't it?