Once and for All- Part Three Of The Conclusion To The United Series

Chapter Six

^^I'm sorry there are just so many pictures of him online and I'm just stunned at how similar he looks to Remo in my weird mind. #Ignore the caption I just thought it was fitting XD

Max's POV:

I pace the floor of my room tirelessly.

I don't know what I'm waiting for. I guess I'm just waiting for Setràkus Ra or Octavian to come in and tell me it's time to sign the papers.

"Max?"

I immediately whip around at the sound of his voice. My head gets foggy at the sight of him.

But foggy in a good way.

"Leo!" I exclaim, running up to the Iris-message and grinning widely. Leo smiles down at me, his dark brown eyes soft and warm.

"Hi, Maxy." Leo calls to me, staring deeply into my eyes. "Are you okay?" He asks me. I nod my head and quickly blink away tears forming in the edges of my eyes. I haven't felt happier in two months.

"I'm fine." I reply, my heart melting just by looking at Leo Valdez; his dark chocolate brown eyes, his messy black hair he can never comb, that mischievous glint in his eyes, his flirty smile.

Leo's silent for a few moments.

"What the Hades happened to your hair?"

I chuckle and fiddle with a shorter, dyed black curl hanging just under my shoulder. "Jason had a vision where I was signing the adoption papers with Setràkus Ra. I thought I'd try to prevent it by changing it." I smile sheepishly up at Leo, who just smiles warmly back at me.

"Well you still look beautiful, Maxy." Leo replies and my face heats up.

"Do I still look handsome?" He teases and I laugh. He brightens at the smile on my lips.

"Whatever you say, Leo." I answer and his head slightly tilts to the right, which he always does right before he kisses me.

But he seems to come to his senses and takes a deep breath, looking around the room he's in.

"How'd you Iris-message?" I ask him, just to change the topic. He's snapped out of whatever daze he's in and smiles back up at me.

"Just made a rainbow with the sun and this." He answers and holds up a green water gun. I laugh again and Leo's smile just turns warmer.

"So...anything about college yet?" Leo asks me, a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"I was going to ask Setràkus Ra but I...got a little caught up..." I trail off, hoping that he doesn't notice anything off.

"Whenever the time's right, Maxy."

I don't think I'll be able to stop the tears. Right in front of me is the boy I've loved since I was fourteen, and yet he's so far away. I'll probably never be able to see him again face-to-face. No more hugs or kisses, or anything but words.

I can just barely feel a single tear roll down my cheek and pray that Leo doesn't see it, or he'll probably start crying, too. It's kind of a thing that happens between us. One of us starts crying, the other starts, too.

But before Leo can notice anything, I can hear the door opening on his end. Leo looks towards the door and I quickly wipe away the tear on my cheek.

"Jason! Come say hi to Max!" Leo calls to Jason. I hear footsteps running towards us and Jason steps into my view next to Leo. He brightens at the sight of me but his smile quickly fades.

"Max...your-your hair..." Jason trails off, his sky blue eyes wide as he stares at my black curls.

"Yeah, I wanted to prevent that vision you had with the adoption papers, so I...I dyed it again." I explain, examining Jason's face for any answers as to why he seems so scared of me having black hair again. Did he have another vision of me?

Jason shakes his head, snapping himself out from the daze he's in and smiles up at me. "Are you okay? Is everything alright?" He asks me, seeming to examine my face for any lies. Why would I lie to him in the first place?

"Everything's fine, don't worry." I reply and Jason nods his head, then stares at my arms.

"Did you show Leo the tattoos?" Jason asks me. I freeze up. I completely forgot about that.

"Tattoos? What tattoos?" Leo asks, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Oh, uh...in Jason's vision, I had tattoos of Mogadorian symbols on my arms, and I didn't want to get those, so I asked someone to give me these instead." I answer, slipping off the gray sweater Finn gave me and showing Leo the tattoos on my arms- the nine Garde symbols on one and the water with the trident on the other.

"Oh...wow." Leo replies after a moment, then looks back up at me and smiles. I smile back at him and glance back at Jason, who still looks scared for whatever reason. I need to figure out what's bothering him so much.

"Leo, can I talk to Jason for a moment?" I ask Leo, who looks surprised for a second before smiling warmly and nodding his head.

"Of course, Maxy. I love you." Leo tells me, standing up and staring deeply into my eyes. I can feel my heartbeat quicken and I wish I could just jump through the Iris-message and be right next to him again.

"I love you, too, Leo." I reply and he smiles at me one last time before walking out of the room. I so badly want to just call him back so I can see him again, but Jason looks absolutely terrified right now. I have to help him.

"Jason, what's wrong? What happened?" I ask him and he tenses up.

"Nothing, it-it's fine." Jason replies. I raise an eyebrow at him like 'Really, dude?'. He stares me in the eye for what seems like minutes before he sighs and looks down.

"I had another vision." He finally answers, so quiet I can barely hear him. I purse my lips and he looks back up at me, a terrified and pitied glint in his eyes. 

"You have to prevent this one, Max. It's so much worse than the adoption papers. You can't let this one happen." Jason tells me, his voice turning slightly frantic.

"I can't. Like the other vision, I prevented that one and a worse one took its place. If we try to prevent this one, something even worse is going to happen." I reply. Jason bites his bottom lip nervously and I can see the scar on the corner of his lip, from when he tried to eat a stapler when he was two. Stupid Roman.

"You have to try, Max." He tells me, a scared yet determined look in his eyes. Whatever he saw, he's terrified of it, and if it's really that bad, I have to listen to him, no matter what could happen.

"Okay, I'll try." I respond and Jason looks slightly relieved. I need to know what scared him so much he's begging me to try to stop it even if it means something worse happening in its place.

"What happened in your vision? What was it exactly?" I ask him. He looks back up at me, still giving me a pitied look. I swear to the gods if this boy was freaking out over just something happening to me I'm going to walk back to earth and slap him.

Jason sighs again and fidgets with his fingers nervously. "A lot happened..."