Starlight and Repair boy (Leo Valdez x OC)

Chapter 25

Leo

"Warning: don't do anything that deserves Caitlyn's death glare."

We ventured further into the cavern, the deeper we went, the more I felt the shadows were watching us. Though I tried to act tough, I jumped at every sound. How very macho of me. 

Caitlyn held the torch steadily in front of her with a steady, focused look in her eyes. The way she stood and looked made me feel like I needed to bow, she acted like a goddess and may I add that she looked like one. I admired her bravery, though she had experienced the horrors ahead of us.

She turned to me, making eye contact. I had realised I had been staring at her for a while so I panicked and moved my eyes elsewhere. I felt a burning sensation on my face and realised my nose was on fire. I extinguished the fire and looked away hoping no one saw. "Dude, what is it with you and Caitlyn?" I jumped and realised Connor was speaking to me. Yeah, he saw the whole thing.

He barely said in a whisper so Caitlyn wouldn't hear. Damn, I thought the voice belonged to some sort of ghost. But I was taken back by his question, I mean, there wasn't anything between us. We were just... friends. I ignored him, deciding I had enough to freak out about for today. 

"Judging your silence, you're hiding something," He focused on the tunnel ahead of us, not making eye contact. What was his problem? I decided I needed to answer him knowing that if he didn't, he would continue to be pushy. "I don't know what you're talking about man, as you can clearly see there is nothing. Nada. Got it?" 

He went silent for a few moments, but just before I could relax, he said something that caught me completely off guard, "I don't take staring and catching your face on fire as 'nada'. But I'm taking your word for it. I don't know if you noticed but... I kinda have a thing for her..."

Oh, why did he decide to have this conversation underground in a time of peril? It just adds on to my uneasiness. As much as I wanted to slap some logic into his mind, I forced a smile and joked, "Nah, it's okay man. Now we can be an awkward love triangle. I always wanted that."

I sealed my lips shut once I realised I had said the wrong thing. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face me, with frustration in his voice, "I recall you saying you had 'nada' in between you! Come on Leo! Just face it. You-"

"Uh, is everything alright?" Piper asked us. She motioned for Caitlyn to stop as she did so, she glared at us, mouthing, "Now is not the time!"

Thanks for repeating what I wanted to tell Connor, Piper. Oh, but Connor was in a real stubborn mood. "I can see it now Leo, you're a scaredy-cat who can't face his feelings. If you tried to, you'd have a gravestone that said 'Leo Valdez, died from catching his heart on fire' I can't believe that I thought you were telling the truth,"

That's it. I won't let this pile of crap bully me.

"Oh yeah? Well, you know this whole time, I never noticed you talking to her. If you're calling me a coward, you should look in the mirror and find a crying boy whose mom abandoned him!"

"Leo! Connor! Stop it!" Not even Piper's charmspeak didn't do anything to help.

Connor was just about to charge towards me when Caitlyn stood in the way giving us both the death glare. We froze in our places, realising what we've done. "What is it with you two? Is there a pretty nymph I haven't heard about? Well whatever, you two are acting like total selfish babies!"

Ouch, that one hurt the most.

"Now isn't the time to be arguing! The Algea could be anywhe-"

The earth started rumbling causing us all to lose balance. As I fell to the ground, I saw three silhouettes crouching on top of me, whispering in raspy voices. The Algea, they were here. When my eyes regained focus, they were gone. I must've hit my head too hard.

I felt a hand pull me up and I looked up to realise it was Caitlyn. "Come on," her voice was filled with urgency. As I got up, Caitlyn asked, "You good?" I nodded but I was also conscious of the fact that her arm was wrapped tightly around my shoulders.

She released me and looked around us. Piper and Connor were nowhere in sight. The cavern was still in motion, luckily, I kept my balance. All of a sudden, it stopped. We stood unsure, waiting for something to pop up, but there was nothing.

The silence was eerie, I would've thought I was deaf if our heavy breathing didn't fill it. Out of nowhere, the walls started moving. There were closing in on us rapidly. We heard a scream fill the silence, ringing my ears.

Caitlyn turned to me, "That's Piper, do you think-"

I nodded, "She's claustrophobic."

Caitlyn nodded in understanding, but then paused, "The Algea has some sort of test for each of us, death, Spiders, claustrophobia, but, what about you?"

I feared to think about it, but for now, we needed to get out of this situation. But as I patted the walls for a possible way out, my mind started racing. What if they display something about my mom? No, I moved on. I accepted her death. 

But what else would it be? I looked over to Caitlyn who was busy forcing the walls back. No, they wouldn't, no. I won't let them. With a growl, I told her, "Let them close in on us,"

"What? Are you crazy?!?" She shrieked. I smirked, "Technically, I am crazy. But just trust me, I know what I'm doing." Caitlyn looked at me and noticed the confident look in my eyes. She looked at the walls which were only a few inches away from our faces.

She sighed, "If we die, Valdez, I'm blaming it on you." I let out a chuckle as she gave me a weird look. Without thinking, I took her hand.

She looked down at our linked hands and smiled at me. She faced the wall confidently, completely trusting me. Without another word, we took the last breath and let the walls consume us.

I saw a dim light making its way into my vision. My eyes snapped open and I saw three hideous faces loom over me. I could barely make out its features and I blinked to make sure that it wasn't a hallucination. It wasn't. We were face to face with the Algea, in flesh.