A Soul On Fire ~Leo Valdez Love Story

Alex, My Little Brother

I stood there in front of Echidna and Alex, praying that Alex would live. But my mind was elsewhere. I racked my brain for ways to get out of this, and I remembered I had a snake's fang in my hand. I drew a force-field with what remaining strength I had and I stabbed Echidna. Multiple times. She turned into dust with a satisfying poof. And with that, I collapsed. I was still awake to endear the burning acidic pain that was searing through my arm. How convenient. Percy and Annabeth ran over to me.

"Oh my gods, are you okay?" Annabeth asked, crouching down next to me. I coughed, struggling to get up.

"Alex?" I asked, looking behind me. Alex looked up at me and smiled.

"I'm okay, Ash" he reassured me. "Thanks for saving us from that witch."

"No problem, little brother" I said half-heartedly, ruffling his black hair. I tried to get up, groaning at the pain. Annabeth tried to sit me back down, but I waved her away.

"Annabeth, I'm fine. But that's not it" I mumbled, grimacing at the ongoing pain throughout my arm.

"You're not fine. I know what it feels like to get bitten, and you got bitten for a long time" Percy said, fishing through his bag. He took out some food that looked like brownies wrapped in plastic and gave it to me.

"What is this?" I asked, unwrapping the plastic from the weird food substance. Percy smiled.

"Ambrosia. It'll help." I took a bite to find it tasted exactly like the chocolate mama let me and Alex have on Christmas. Only on Christmas, but the wait was worth it. I smiled, feeling better, but not completely. I soon finished it contently, feeling sore, but better. It started to really hurt again, but the pain was much less than what I was feeling before.

Annabeth was looking stressed. She was staring at the ground, rubbing her temples, deep in thought. Percy noticed me looking at Annabeth, so he did to. He nudged her when he saw she looked stressed.

"Annabeth?" he asked. She looked up at me.

"What is your name?" she asked, boring through my eyes intently.

"Ash..." I replied slowly, wondering why she was asking.

"Ash, what do you mean by: that's not it?" My heart stopped cold.

"The voices said they're coming. If they said they're, then there's more coming. And Echidna said someone else was coming too" I explained quietly, trying to think what else could possibly be worse.

"The voices? What voices?" she asked, her grey eyes darting back and forth from one blue eye to the other. I took a deep breathe and told them everything from when I met Nico to before they came. Percy and Annabeth listened, not saying anything, just exchanging looks and looking worried. This was not a good sign.

It's coming. Get ready. Brace yourself, The Voice said.

"It's coming. Get ready. Brace yourself" I repeated. They nodded, helping me up.

"What's coming?" Percy asked. As if on cue, a giant serpent burst through the window.

"Cover your eyes!" I screamed. I shielded my eyes immediately, pleading The Voice for advice. Holy Hades, you're in a big heap of trouble. The Laconian Drakon, the most fearsome of the Drakons. Echidna must really need you dead. They have scales the size of plates and are extremely hard to kill. They can paralyze you with their eyes and this particular one can breathe fire. It has 3 heads, and can spit venomous poison. You better pray that you're gonna live. But you must protect them. Everyone. Don't let them die.

"Annabeth, this is a Laconian Drakon. Any tips?" I asked, looking at her through my hands.

"Laconian?!" she shrieked, and I could practically hear the Drakon turn it's heads in her direction.

"Now he knows you're afraid. Swell" I muttered. "Okay, guys, don't look at it. It can paralyze you with it's eyes. It can breathe fire, and they are extremely hard to kill. Any ideas?"

"Percy, protect us from the fire. Ash, stay down, we'll handle this" Annabeth ordered. I looked at her like she was out of her mind.

"Oh yea, like how you saved us from Chimera? You need me to help you. Percy would've been dead if I hadn't killed Chimera! I'm helping you whether you like it or not!" I yelled.

"Ash...? Help me" I heard Alex wimper. I whipped my head around to see the Laconian Drakon in front of Alex.

"Alex!" I screamed. I ran over to Alex and pushed him and Lily away from the Drakon. But it was too late. Tears poured down my face in an endless sea of pain. Alex was dead. My little soldier, my little brother, the only person I had left. And the Laconian Drakon killed him like that. A snap of your fingers. Alex protected Lily from the Drakon, and he was dead because of it. I screamed and sobbed and shook Alex's limp shoulders, pleading for him to wake up. But he didn't.

Then I felt a new emotion flood through me. Rage. Cold blood rage. I slowly rose up from my position. I turned around and clenched my fists, turning my knuckles white. Oh shit, her eyes are red, I heard Percy think.

Then rage had filled every vessel, every vein, every single part of me. My dirty blonde hair swirled around me, as if the wind was coming in from all sides. Tears had stopped pouring. No, not now. I had to avenge my brother. The lights began to flicker as I looked straight into the Drakon's eyes. The ground began to rumble, confusing the monster. It was dead silent.

"YOU KILLED MY LITTLE BROTHER!!!!!!" I bellowed, pure venom in every single word.

Then suddenly, I was on one knee, sword stabbed in the ground, breathing heavily. My hair was messy in front of my face. Blood coated my long, silver sword that I had in my pant loop from before. I was fully aware of the scratches on my face and arms, and the gashes I had on my shoulder. I had yet another fang in my hand. Add that to the checked things on my bucket list, I thought glumly. But realization swept over me and I yelled in agony,

"ALEX!!" I sobbed, tears falling to the ground. Now, I'm not lying when I say there was a puddle from my tears. You don't know the pain I could be feeling right now. He was all I had left. He never complained, he always listened, he always understood me. He was the only one that understood me. We went through everything together. He was my other half. I never lived a single day without him. And the Drakon had killed him in less than a second. Alex was protecting Lily fearlessly from the Laconian Drakon and he was paid for his selfless actions.

I looked around from my tears to see a humongous pile of sand. I killed it. I killed the nearly unkillable monster in less than 1 second. I was filled with rage and grief. Alex's dead body was beside me. His black hair looking like he just got out of bed, his dark brown eyes that were once filled with cheerfulness were now closed and lifeless next to me. Tears poured down my cheeks in a never-ending flow. I realized The Voice tried to warn me. The Voice knew. YOU COULD'VE TOLD ME! I screamed in my mind. I shook my forehead against the hilt of my sword and tears went freely down my cut cheeks once more, stinging with pain. Then I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Nico, his eyes full of sympathy. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around him, crying into his shoulder. I felt another pair of arms wrap around me, adding to the hug. It was Percy. Then Annabeth joined, her cheeks flooded with tears also. Then little Lily hugged my waist, which added to the crying. We stayed like that until Nico said,

"We should go." I nodded, breaking the group hug. Annabeth clicked the little thing behind her ear and the light flickered green. Despite my curiousness about (what I had identified as an earpiece), I turned my attention to Nico.

"Go where?" I asked, my voice thick from crying. He smiled half-heartedly.

"Camp Half-Blood."