The Five Times Leo Valdez Almost Died and the One Time He Did

The War

Bruised and burnt to a crisp, his chest no longer moving, that's how Festus was holding him on his back after the fiery explosion that knocked them out of the sky.

It had been the war. They were fighting Gaea and her monsters at Camp Half-Blood. In a desperate attempt Leo did the thing he had been planning for weeks now. He prayed that it worked.

Him and Festus were shooting through the sky on fire. Even for Leo it was hot. He could see his hair starting to burn on the ends. That wasn't good. If his hair was starting to burn then that meant he would too, eventually. He looked forward and saw Gaea waking up and staring at him with her large dirt colored eyes. This had to work, it had to.

Leo thought quickly over everything he had done in his life time. He had lost his mom, he had been to countless foster homes, he had been on the run, he had made friends and lost them, he had screwed things up but he'd also fixed things, he had made a family and found a new home, he had been depressed, he had almost died so many times. And this was another of those times.

Maybe Leo wouldn't die, maybe he would survive the explosion and live without using the Physicians Curse. He knew it was wishful thinking. He prayed that once he did burn up, everything would go smoothly. He would die but Festus will live. Gaea will go back to sleep. Festus will somehow get him to drink the Cure and he'll come back to life, hopefully not as a zombie. He will live and hopefully, if things go really well, he'll land on Calypso's island and run in to her arms and hug her and kiss her and sweep her off her feet and take her to see the world. Gods he couldn't wait to see her again. He had to go back to her. He had to. He had promised.

Leo stared ahead and narrowed his eyes at the Gaea. "Alright, Dirt Face, here I come," he mumbled in a determined tone.

Everything around him started to melt and simmer. The only colors Leo could see where orange and red. Time seemed to slow down and speed up all at once. He knew this was it. He clenched his jaw tight and prepared himself for the impact that he knew was coming. It was like driving at 100 miles per hour and watching as you drove straight into a wall. The crash was inevitable.

The wind whipped his hair around him. Gaea was getting closer and closer and the fire seemed to get hotter with each second.

30 feet away

20 feet away

15 feet

10 feet

5

Boom

The crash was loud. Loud enough to distract everyone below and stop them from fighting to look up at the scene unfolding in front of them. There where shouts from below. The explosion rang in everyone's ears. People muttered at the sky. "What was that? Who was that? Where's Leo?"

And then there were screams. Loud ones. "Leo?!" "Where's Leo?!" "Leo!" "No!" "Leo!"

But Leo couldn't hear any of it. His whole body was numb. To him the world was deathly quiet. His vision blurred. He could just barely make out a face of dirt that seemed to be screaming in pain but he couldn't hear it's yelps. It was getting harder to breathe. His chest burned like the fire was inside him, eating him up from the inside. Is this what it feels like to burn? Is this what my mom felt? He couldn't help but wonder.

He could feel himself loosing consciousness, slipping away from the world. Fetus continued to move through the sky in a fiery streak. It hurt to breathe. This was it, this is where Leo Valdez was going to die. His mind slowed and churned. His brain felt like mush and he could barely make a coherent thought. All the air had been knocked out of him. His lungs felt like they collapsed inside of him and he couldn't take in another breath. The world faded out around him. He managed to put together one last thought before he slipped into oblivion- Calypso.

When Leo woke back up on the dragon he was more than happy to take in large gulps of air. His body was slightly sore but most of the damage had been fixed with the physicians cure. He was even happier to find that just down below them in the pale blue of the sea he could make out a tiny dot of white sand. He neared closer and saw palm trees dotted throughout it. He knew exactly where he was- Calypso's Island. They had found Ogygia.

Leo smiled broadly at Festus and patted his back. "Good job buddy. Set us down on that island. We've made it."